Svend Olling graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1994 with a Master of Science in Economics. He has served in the embassies in Washington, D.C., United States and in Berlin, Germany. From 2010 to 2013, he was the Danish Ambassador in Dhaka, Bangladesh and from September 2016 to 2020 the Danish Ambassador in Ankara, Turkey and Azerbaijan. In the Danish Foreign Ministry, Svend Olling has primarily worked with European Affairs, Security Policy, Export Promotion and IT. He was also involved in hosting the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference COP15 in 2009.