Ünal Baylan was born in Trabzon in 1978 and graduated in 2003 from the Department of Maritime Transportation and Management Engineering, Karadeniz Technical University.

In 2011, Mr. Baylan completed his master's degree at Gazi University, Department of Traffic Planning and Application, with his thesis titled "Oil Pollution Intervention System in Maritime Transportation: Applications in Turkey and Europe".

After starting his working life as an officer on commercial ships between 2003 and 2005, Mr. Baylan was appointed as a Maritime Survey Engineer at the Prime Ministry Undersecretariat of Maritime Affairs in 2005.  He served as a Branch Manager, Head of Department and Deputy General Manager at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure from 2009 to 2020. 

Mr. Baylan has served as project manager and country contact point in many national and international projects, especially in maritime dangerous cargo transportation and oil pollution response training.

During his tenure, Mr. Baylan has made significant contributions to the development of maritime dangerous cargo transportation, the establishment of an emergency response system to oil pollution at sea, the protection of the marine environment within the scope of the collection of wastes from ships, and the making the port legislation uniform in our country. 

Most recently, Ünal Baylan was appointed as Director General of the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs by the Presidential Decree issued on 16 June 2020.

Mr. Baylan, who speaks English at a good level, is married and is the father of three children.