Gaddam Dharmendra is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie India. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1990 and served in various capacities in Indian Missions across the world and at the Ministry of External Affairs, South Block. His overseas assignments include stints at Indian Missions in Tehran, Dushanbe, Washington D.C., and Dhaka.

He also served as India's consul general to Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR, as high commissioner to the Republic of Zambia and as ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Iran. At Headquarters, he headed the Disarmament and International Security Affairs Division and later the Policy Planning and Research Division.

He retired from the IFS in July 2024 having served as dean of the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service.