Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and a PhD in Economics from the New School for Social Research. He was Minister of Finance and Planning in the Dilma Rousseff government. He also chaired the Board of Directors of Banco do Brasil and was a member of the Board of Directors of Vale and BNDES. Nelson Barbosa has also acted as advisor to the BNDES Presidency between 2005 and 2006. As of January 2023, he took over as Director of Planning and Project Structuring at BNDES.