Carlos Santiago is from Medellín, Colombia and holds an MA in Economics and a BA in Economics and Political Science from Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. Carlos Santiago worked as an intern at the Central Bank of Colombia, and as a research assistant and teaching assistant at the Economics Faculty and the School of Government at Universidad de Los Andes, working on labour market issues and poverty reduction. He then worked as a research associate at Innovations for Poverty Action, Colombia, where he led a security project, leading data collection, performing data analysis, and engaging with policy actors.

Currently, Carlos Santiago is UNHCR's country economist for Colombia, where he leads the evidence generation activities (impact evaluation when possible), the engagement with government development actors (Planning Department, Ministry of Finance), and support the innovative financing (RBF) activities. His policy interests are forced displacement, social protection, development, bridging research and policy-making.

Carlos Santiago is a Gilinski Scholar.