During his time at Oxford, Rufus started his teaching career working as a tutor at Keble and Magdalen Colleges. He returned to Australia to undertake a post-doctoral fellowship where he continued deep interdisciplinary interests, publishing in the fields of both ethics and economics.
This led to a career in the consulting world, after which Rufus returned to academia at the University of Melbourne. He co-led the creation of a Master of Entrepreneurship and taught into the program as an Enterprise Professor in the Department of Management and Marketing. He was also a Principal Fellow in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Philosophy and taught as lead faculty for the Centre for Ethical Leadership. During this time he was Master of Melbourne University’s Ormond College.
Rufus’s research and writing have been published widely, including by Oxford University Press and Routledge. Most recently, he was a coauthor of Ethics at War (Routledge 2024) .
He has also authored a number of major public reports for the Australian Government, drawing on his expertise in ethics, management, and strategy.
Rufus's work on economic issues and his commercial experience has included being a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he worked on strategy, organisation, and public sector issues in Australia and Asia, being a Board Member of the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia, a Board Member of Innovation Science Australia, and a Director of the national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
Rufus’s educational and social sector experience includes being President of Museums Victoria, the Deputy Chancellor of Victoria University, Strategic Advisor to the Secretary of Education in Victoria, the founding Chair of the Board of Teach for Australia, a Director of the New York-based Teach for All, a Director of the Cranlana Foundation, and a Director of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.
Rufus’ work for government on matters of Defence and Security has included conducting the Black Review into Governance and Accountability in the Department of Defence, Co-Leading the Prime Minister’s Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community, being a member of the Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation Oversight Panel.