Professor Arcoumanis holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Physics, Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Greece (1973), the University of California at Irvine, USA (1980), and Imperial College London (1984), respectively. After some 20 years at various academic positions at Imperial College, he joined City University London in October 2000 and became Dean of its School of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences (SEMS) in 2001. In 2006 he was appointed Pro Vice-Chancellor, in 2008 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and International) and in 2012 Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International and Development). In July 2014 he stepped down as City's Deputy Vice-Chancellor and remains Professor of Mechanical Engineering on a part-time basis.

Professor Arcoumanis is a Fellow of the UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the institute of Directors, the International Society of Automotive Engineers and the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the St Petersburg State Polytechnic University of Russia, followed in 2010 by an Honorary Professorship from Tianjin University and in 2014 by an Advisory Professorship from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

In September 2012 Professor Arcoumanis was appointed Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic for Energy Policy and New Technologies and since July 2014 he is non-Executive Director and Member of the Board of the Angelicoussis Shipping Group Limited.