Ian won the Roux Scholarship in 2015 when he was 29 and did his stage at Benu in San Francisco under Corey Lee.

Born in Glasgow, Ian started his career as an apprentice at House for an Art Lover, a museum in Glasgow catering for functions and weddings. He went on to work at Etain, a modern French restaurant in Glasgow for a year, with Geoffry Smeddle. From there he joined Andrew Fairlie at his restaurant within the Gleneagles Hotel, Auchterader. Starting as a commis chef in 2007 he quickly progressed through the ranks to sous chef. He left Andrew Fairlie’s at the end of 2011 to move to London where he joined Claude Bosi as sous chef at the two-star Michelin restaurant Hibiscus (which closed in October 2016) where he was promoted to head chef within six months. It was while working at Hibiscus that he won the Roux Scholarship.

Ian has always worked hard to develop his craft as a chef by constantly seeking opportunities for experience, while with Andrew Fairlie he did stages at Tickets with Albert Adria, two-star Michelin Restaurant Sat Bains, at the two-star De Pastorale in Antwerp and at three-star restaurant De Leest in Holland.

In February 2017, Ian was part of the thought-provoking food waste pop-up, wastED, a collaboration between Selfridges London and New York chef Dan Barber. He also worked with Clare Smyth on the development for her new restaurant Core, which opened in August, 2017. In July 2017, Ian took the position of chef de cuisine at In Situ, located within the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, and overseen by Chef Corey Lee. The main concept of In Situ was taking one dish from various restaurants throughout the world and rotating them on one menu.

In June 2021, Ian moved to Santa Monica, California, to take up a new role as Chef de Cuisine at the two-star Michelin Mélisse Restaurant working with Josiah Citrin. The restaurant has undergone a huge refurbishment and Ian looks after the fine dining part of the restaurant, with five tables and 14 covers with two services. In September 2021, after just four months of Ian being in the role, the restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars.

In summer 2023, Ian announced he would be leaving Melisse and beginning a new project in Los Angeles.