He graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon.[1]
He was Assistant to the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs (1999–2000) and Chief of Staff to the Secretary of State for Internal Administration (1995–1999).[2]
In 2001, he founded and took over the management of CIMASA — Centro de Informação, Mediação e Arbitragem de Seguros Automóveis, which brings together representatives of insurance companies, through the Associação Portuguesa de Seguradores, consumers, through DECO, and motorists, through the ACP.[1] He headed this organization until 2007.[2]
In 2004, he was elected a member of the National Secretariat of the PS, a position he resigned in October 2010 to become President of the Lisbon Federation of the same party.[1]
In 2005, he was elected a member of the Portuguese Parliament and vice-chairman of the PS Parliamentary Group, having held parliamentary seats in the X, XII, XIII, XIV and XV legislatures.[2]
In 2007, he was elected as a city councillor and, until 2009, he was deputy mayor of Lisbon. During the 18th Constitutional Government, he became Secretary of State for National Defense and Maritime Affairs, from 2009 to 2011.[2]
In 2015, after being elected as a Member of Parliament, he was also part of the 21st Constitutional Government as Secretary of State for National Defense[3][4] until 2018, when he resumed his previous duties as a Member of Parliament.