[1][2] Hakobyan was born in the village of Dovegh in northeastern Armenia, near the border with Azerbaijan.
[3] He attended the Yerevan State University and graduated from the Journalism Department in 1995.
[5] Hakobyan has formerly worked as a correspondent for the newspapers Ankakhutyun (1991–1995), Yerkir (1998–2000), Azg (2000–2006), Aztag (2005-2016),[6] The Armenian Reporter (2008–2009) and as a political observer on regional issues of Radiolur news program of the Public Radio of Armenia (2004–2008).
From 2009 until February 2021 he worked as a reporter and analyst at the independent Civilitas Foundation (CivilNet).
[4][7][8] Since 2014 Hakobyan has been the director of the Yerevan-based ANI Foundation for Armenian Studies (Հայկական ուսումնասիրությունների ԱՆԻ հիմնադրամ).