Syed Akbaruddin is a retired Indian diplomat with a distinguished career spanning over 34 years in the Indian Foreign Service. He currently serves as the dean of Kautilya School of Public Policy. From January 2016 to April 2020, he was India's Permanent Representative at the United Nations in New York, where he presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in January 2016.

Throughout his diplomatic career, Akbaruddin held various significant positions.