Stephen House steadily worked his way up the ranks to take the top job in Scottish policing and a salary of more than £200,000 a year.
He was selected to head Scotland's new single force in 2012 after notching up three decades of service at six UK forces.
His penultimate role - Strathclyde Police chief constable - brought him home to Glasgow where he won praise for combating gang violence and later emerged as the favourite for leading Police Scotland.
To his credit is the successful policing of last year's Commonwealth Games, but he faced criticism for his decision to put armed officers on routine patrols and the force's stop-and-search policy for juveniles.
The M9 crash - where a woman and her partner lay undiscovered in their car for three days - provoked an unprecedented apology from the police chief.
MSPs then ramped up the pressure when it was revealed that an officer had left a voicemail about an unrelated missing person inquiry on the phone of victim Lamara Bell, 10 days after her death.
History and English literature graduate Sir Stephen spent the early part of his career at Sussex Police before going on to serve with Northamptonshire, West Yorkshire and Staffordshire forces.
He was appointed deputy assistant commissioner at the Metropolitan Police in December 2001 and five years later took on the role of assistant commissioner with a responsibility for homicide, gun crime and fraud.
Sir Stephen grew up in Glasgow and moved his family to the city to head what was then Scotland's largest force in 2007.
He was almost lured back down south in 2011 when Sir Paul Stephenson resigned as Metropolitan Police Commissioner and it is understood he was asked to apply for the Scotland Yard role by Home Office officials.
He lost out to Bernard Hogan-Howe but was credited as Strathclyde chief constable for securing a significant drop in serious and violent crime as well as overseeing initiatives to tackle gang-related violence and domestic abuse.
As Police Scotland chief constable, Sir Stephen was responsible for leading the transition to the single service, amalgamating eight police forces, which came into effect on April 1 2013.
He was included in the Queen's Birthday Honours list that year, earning a knighthood for his services to law and order. He was previously awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 2005.
The married father-of-three has spoken previously about the demands of the job, admitting: "I don't turn the phone off ever."
He told the Scotsman newspaper: "I really haven't got an 'outwith the police'. There isn't much else. I'm either here or I'm at home with my family."
Sir Stephen recently indicated that he would not seek another police job when his contract ends in 2016.
He said in an interview with the Herald: "September 2016 will get me to somewhere like 35 and a half years in policing, probably a fair innings."
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