Before Grimmond joined the university's Department of Meteorology in August 2013, she was Chair of Physical Geography and Professor at King’s College London, after being Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, USA. She completed her undergraduate degree (BSc Hons) at the University of Otago, New Zealand, and her graduate degrees (MSc and PhD) at the University of British Columbia.

Grimmond is a past president of the International Association of Urban Climate (IAUC) and a past lead expert for the WMO on urban and building climatology. Grimmond sits on the editorial board of Urban Climate and was previously Editor for the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology. She was a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, the Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, Geography Compass (as Climatology Editor), and Advances in Meteorology. Her awards include: Doctor of Science Honoris Causa (Göteborg University), Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS), Isaac Manasseh Meyer Fellowship (NUS), Universitatis Lodziensis Amico Medal (University of Łódź), Helmut E Landsberg Award (AMS), Luke Howard Award (IAUC); Ernest Frolich Fellowship (CSIRO), Japan Society for Promotion of Science Invitation Fellowship (University of Tokyo), as well as the Eminent Professor Visit Award (Monash University).

She is a visiting professor at Chongqing University at both the National Centre for International Research of Low-carbon and Green Buildings under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technology and at the Joint International Research Laboratory of Green Buildings and the Built Environment under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. Grimmond is also a Visiting Distinguished Professor at Tsinghua University, and a Visiting Special Expert at the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau.