Prior to his career in foreign service, Hood was a
Fulbright scholar in
Burkina Faso, and worked at a bank in Vermont. He became a
Pickering Fellow in 1998, being one of the first three to reach the rank of
Senior Foreign Service. He is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor. Throughout his career, he served in leadership positions overseas as the
Chargé d’affaires and deputy chief of mission of the
U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. Embassy in
Kuwait City, Kuwait, and the principal officer of the U.S. Consulate General in
Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia. In addition, he has served as the deputy director and the acting director of the Office of Iranian Affairs in the
State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, as the public affairs officer of the U.S. Embassy in
Doha,
Qatar, and as the political-economic section chief of the U.S. Embassy in
Sanaa,
Yemen. Hearings on his nomination were held before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 27, 2022. His nomination was favorably reported by the committee on December 7, 2022. The Senate confirmed Hood in a voice vote on December 21, 2022. He presented his credentials to President
Kais Saied on February 2, 2023. ==Personal life==