Stephen Dhieu Dau is from Melut County, Upper Nile State, and belongs to the Nyiel section of the Padang Dinka ethnic group.

In October 2022, President Salva Kiir appointed Stephen Dhieu Dau as the chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Revenue Authority.

Stephen Dhieu attended Renk Secondary School and went to Cairo University - Egypt, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree of commerce.

[2] In 2006, he was appointed to the Technical Assessment and Conversion Committee, responsible for designing, processing and overseeing the change of the Sudanese currency from dinars (SD) to pounds (SDG).

He was among the internal cells within Sudan, govern controlled areas who provided technical supporting to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) negotiating team on wealth sharing protocol during the peace talks in Naivasha, Kenya, during the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) negotiations, the contribution that led to establishment of the two windows in banking industry in Sudan, the Islamic banking system in the North and the conventional banking system in the South, during the six years period of the CPA - 2005 to 2011.

In May 2007, Stephen Dhieu Dau was appointed as the Minister of Finance, Trade, and Economic Planning of the oil-rich Upper Nile state.

In 2010, upon general elections, Stephen Dhieu Dau, was appointed as the Minister of Commerce and Industry in the Government of Southern Sudan ( GoSS).

[14] As the Minister of Finance and Planning, he pushed for vital fiscal reforms, robust public financial management,[15] enforcing tough fiscal and monetary policies, strengthening cooperation with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and The World Bank Group ( WB) in the quest for revitalization of the economy of South Sudan.