Before becoming deputy mayor, Lin was the head of the Department of Finance of the Taipei City Government and he has also been a professor in the National Taiwan University Graduate Institute of Building and Planning, specializing in urban development.
在出任副市長以前，林建元曾任台北市財政局長、台大城鄉所教授，在都市發展、空間再造等專業領域任教多年。