Affiliated with the GERB party, he previously served as Minister of Regional Development and Public Works from 2009 to 2011.

His mother, Slavka Plevnelieva, was a teacher, and his father, Asen Plevneliev, was an activist of the Communist Party.

As a result of the 2013 Bulgarian protests against monopoly and high electricity prices, the conservative government of Prime Minister Boyko Borisov tendered its resignation on 20 February 2013.

President Plevneliev, acting in accordance with the constitution, offered a mandate to form a new government within the term of the current Parliament to GERB, BSP and DPS but after each of them declined, Plevneliev appointed a caretaker government on 13 March 2013, with Marin Raykov, the Bulgarian ambassador in Paris as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

[15][16] Plevneliev has frequently criticized the immigration policy in the UK set by the former Prime Minister, David Cameron.

In October 2022, Rosen Plevneliev was invited by GERB to become head of a contact group for cabinet talks, formed by the party.

In January 2014 the tax authorities launched an investigation on President Rosen Plevneliev and his relatives.