Ambassador José Manuel Pinto Teixeira was born in Mozambique on the 14th August 1952. On completion of High School he attended the Portuguese Naval Academy in Lisbon. Subsequently graduated from the Technical University of Lisbon. He did post-graduate studies in the Technical University of Norway and the London School of Economics.

As a young professional he worked in international cooperation projects for several institutions in South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Mozambique, Mauritius, Singapore.

He joined the External Service of the European Commission in 1987 where he pursued his career in development cooperation, humanitarian aid and onwards to become Ambassador of the European Union in Belarus, Cabo Verde, North Macedonia, Mozambique and Ukraine. During his career in the European Union before appointment as Ambassador he served in the Delegations in Swaziland and Angola as well as Head of Humanitarian Missions in the Great Lakes (Rwanda, Burundi, R.D. Congo) crisis, the Caucasus (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Chechnia) and former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Croatia).

In the European Union Headquarters in Brussels he was Head of Sector at the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations ECHO (Humanitarian Office) and head of Unit for Pan-African Relations and East/Southern Africa and Lusophone countries.
Upon retirement from the European Union he became in 2019 Ambassador of the Sovereign Order of Malta in Cabo Verde (resident) and Mozambique.
He is Vice-President of the Board of the European Centre for Electoral Assistance a Brussels based Foundation.

Apart from his native language he is fluent in English, French, Spanish, Italian and Russian. He has a fair knowledge of Dutch, Macedonian and Changane.