Prof Yaacob is currently a Professor-in-Practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Concurrently he is also Professor of Engineering at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) where he is also Advisor to the President of SIT. He was a Member of Parliament in Singapore from January 1997 till July 2021 where he held several political appointments including that of a Minister in several ministries. He graduated as a civil engineer and practiced for 4 years before pursuing his Ph.D. at Stanford University. He was a faculty member of the National University of Singapore from 1990 till 2018, albeit with a period of leave of absence when he was a political office holder. He sits on the board of several private companies and unions.