Juanjo Mena began his career in his native Spain as Artistic Director of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra in 1999. His uncommon talent was soon recognised internationally with appointments as Principal Guest Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic and Chief Guest Conductor of the Orchestra del Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. In 2011 he was named Chief Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic, which he then led for seven seasons, touring Europe and Asia with the orchestra and conducting annual BBC Proms concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. His BBC tenure featured, notably, 'thrilling' (The Guardian) performances of Bruckner Symphonies, a cycle of Schubert Symphonies, and set new standards for the interpretation of Spanish and South American repertoire.

He has led Europe’s top ensembles including the Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, and the Dresden Philharmonic. He has conducted most of North America’s leading orchestras including the Chicago Symphony, Boston Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Montreal Symphony and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. He appears regularly with all the major Spanish orchestras.

In 2017 he was awarded the Spanish National Music Award.