[clarification needed] In 2012, Gladkov defended a thesis entitled "Formation and development of regional agricultural cooperative markets (based on materials from the Penza Oblast)" at the Grozny State Oil Technical University.

[4] He is a graduate of the third stream of the Program for training the personnel management reserve of the civil service,[clarification needed] the so-called "school of governors".

Initially as a contract and claims economist, but in the same year he was appointed head of the financial group of centralized accounting.

[6][7] From September 2016, to the end of March 2018, Gladkov worked as Deputy Governor of Sevastopol under Dmitry Ovsyannikov for domestic policy.

Immediately after the successful presidential campaign, Gladkov wanted to resign voluntarily, but remained in office until June, when he was found a replacement.

[4] On 18 November 2020, by decree of president Putin, Gladkov was appointed acting governor of the Belgorod Oblast until a person elected head of the region takes office.

[12] He replaced Denis Butsayev, the acting governor from 22 September to 18 November 2020, after Yevgeny Savchenko, who had headed the Belgorod Oblast for almost 27 years, who had resigned voluntarily.

[4][13] After his appointment, Gladkov stated that "one has arrived so far" and "it is not necessary to wait for the personnel revolution," calling the fight against the coronavirus, increasing the income of Belgorod residents and implementing national projects a priority.

[16][17][18] On November 30, 2022, he was sanctioned by the UK because he "took part in the partial mobilization of military reservists in the Belgorod region and, therefore, in policies and actions that destabilize Ukraine".