Ian McNaughton gained an Honors Degree in Physics at the University of Western Australia, which led to his first job as a Cosmic Ray Physicist with the Australian Antarctic Division.  Although the job was based at the University of Tasmania, it involved a total of 18 months in Antarctica, mostly at the Australian Base, Mawson.

After three years, he moved to the United Kingdom to undertake a post-graduate diploma course in nuclear engineering at Imperial College London.  Although he was invited to continue to a PhD, he accepted a position with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) as a Scientific Officer, based near Weymouth, Dorset.

He worked as a mathematician at the UKAEA for five years, then returned to Australia to work at Aeronautical Research Laboratories (ARL) in Melbourne as their Computer Manager/Programmer. Since the job was closely related to aircraft research, he also obtained a pilot’s license with an aerobatic endorsement.

After 14 years at ARL, he was selected to be a participant in a 12-month Federal Government Executive Development Scheme (EDS) held mostly in Canberra.

He later moved to the position of Planning Manager - Information Technology - with the Victorian Police, then to a local Government position with the Monash City Council in Melbourne as their Computer Manager.

He then moved to Sydney for his final work assignment as a Senior Manager with a Federal Government Department known then as the Workplace Authority, retiring in 2007.

During his career, papers published by McNaughton were all internal. However, in 2024, he had a paper on climate change published by the SCC (Science of Climate Change) in Germany and co-authored a couple of articles relating to climate published in magazines such as The Spectator and Quadrant.