Xu Jie was born in Xuanping, Zhejiang in 1503, while his father was working there as the assistant county magistrate.

[1] After his eighteenth birthday, Xu Jie gained his degree of Juren by ranked seventh in the provincial civil service examination held at Yingtian in the first year of Jiajing.

When the Chief Grand Secretary, Zhang Cong (張璁), advised the Jiajing Emperor to replace Confucius's posthumous title "Wenxuan King" (文宣王) with "Extremely Sage Departed Teacher" (至聖先師) and reform the ceremony for worship, Xu Jie showed himself to be resolutely opposed to that despite being summoned and upbraided by Zhang.

Later, Xu submitted a memorial that was probably inappropriate for such an issue: "Your Majesty, your own sagacious counsels overwhelmingly exceeded my discernment (聖謨洋洋，非臣所能窺測)."

After a period of filial mourning for his mother, he returned to Beijing and was appointed the Jijiu (祭酒, [Libationer], the Principal of the Imperial University) of Guozijian .

When Altan Khan attacked Beijing, he appealed to the emperor to stay in the Forbidden City and convoke a council of senior officials.

Also, at one point Hai Rui criticized the Jiajing Emperor on an inappropriate occasion, and was sentenced to death.

As Xu entered the Grand Secretariat, the heated political struggle between him and Yan Song began.

His prestige gave his family members and retainers the freedom to make trouble there without fear of retribution.