He was educated in the U.K., reading archaeology of Western Asiatics at the University College London, and graduated with a doctoral degree in 1991. He was the director of Scientific and Conservation Laboratories at the General Department of Antiquities and Museums in Syria (1999-2004) and taught at the University of Damascus until 2006. From 2006-2009, he was a visiting assistant professor at Brigham Young University. While working in Syria, Al Azm was a first-hand observer and sometime participant of the reform processes instigated by Bashar Al-Assad. This experience gave him unique insight into how these reforms are enacted and why, more often than not, they fail. Al Azm is an active member of the Syrian opposition and serves on the executive committee of the Day After Project.