[2] Autuori graduated in Physical Education at Universidade Castelo Branco; and attended a Sport Admninstration course at PUC-RJ and a Soccer Coach Course at UERJ.

Autuori began his career as a fitness coach, working at Portuguesa-RJ, America-RJ, São Bento, Marília,[3] Bonsuccesso and Botafogo before meeting Marinho Peres, who invited him as a part of his staff at Portuguese side Vitória de Guimarães in 1986.

Autuori left the Leões do Almirante Reis in June 1993, but returned to the club in December, replacing compatriot Edinho.

On 12 July 1995, shortly after leaving Marítimo, he returned to Botafogo as the head coach of the club,[5] and led them to the 1995 Campeonato Brasileiro title.

[30] On 12 November, however, he left the club,[31] and returned to Al-Rayyan nine days later; with the latter side, he resigned during the half-time of a match in February 2010,[32] but opted to stay after a meeting afterwards.

[40] On 9 September 2013, Autuori was sacked by São Paulo after a 2–0 loss against Coritiba, a result that kept the club in relegation zone of the 2013 Série A, and was replaced by Muricy Ramalho.

[49] On 5 June 2018, Autuori was announced as the new Director of football in the Bulgarian champion Ludogorets Razgrad, but on the next day he was presented as the new manager of the team, since Dimitar Dimitrov wanted to leave the club.

[54] After leaving Peixe at the end of the 2019 season, Autuori returned to coaching duties on 13 February 2020, after being presented back at Botafogo.

[57] Back to his director role in February 2021, Autuori was an interim head coach in September 2021, after the departure of António Oliveira.

On 24 February 2022, he was presented at Goiás as technical coordinator,[58] but left on 24 March as head coach Bruno Pivetti was sacked.

[63] On 14 November, he was named head coach of the club until the end of the season,[64] and managed to narrowly avoid relegation before returning to his previous role.