Erlingur has a BA in History and Communications summa cum laude from Suffolk University, Boston MA, D.Phil studies in Military History from Oxford University, and an MBA from Reykjavik University.
Joined the Icelandic Foreign Service in 2005 where he has worked primarily on Pol/Mil, international security, defense and peacekeeping issues.
Erlingur has broad field experience having worked with UNICEF in Tajikistan (2008-09), serving as the NATO ISAF Deputy Director for Development in 2009 before joining UNAMA as a Political Officer and acting Head of Office in Khost Province (2009-10). He then returned to Kabul with the UNAMA Aid Coherence Unit in 2011 as the UNAMA-ISAF Liaison.
Erlingur returned to the Icelandic foreign service in mid-2011 and was posted to Washington DC in March 2012 as the embassy Defense Counselor. He was promoted to Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission September 1st, 2014 and concluded his tour at the embassy on July 31st 2017.