Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Satterfield graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a Bachelor of Arts in 1976, and a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1978.

He entered the Foreign Service in 1980, and has served overseas in Jeddah, Tunis, Beirut, and Damascus. A Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff from 1990 to 1993, Satterfield served on the National Security Council Staff from 1993 to 1996 as Director for the Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs and the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He held the position of Director of the Department of State’s Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli Affairs from 1996 to 1998, and was the Ambassador to Lebanon from September 1998 to June 2001.

Satterfield is the recipient of the:

Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award; Department Senior Performance Awards; and six Department of State Superior Honor Awards, notably for his work on the Middle East peace process. In the indictment: U.S. v. Lawrence Anthony Franklin, Steven J. Rosen, Keith Weissman, USGO-2 is mentioned, and in a New York Times article: David Satterfield, deputy chief of the United States Mission in Bhagdad, is identified as USGO-2. In early 2002, Satterfield discussed secret national security matters in two meetings with Steven J. Rosen. The meetings, on January 18, 2002, and March 12, 2002, were confirmed by classified documents. The indictment, however, did not accuse Satterfield of any wrongdoing.

Satterfield was confirmed by the Senate in May 2004 as the next Ambassador to Jordan. He assumed the position of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary on June 1, 2004, having served, for the previous three years, as Deputy Assistant Secretary.

On 19 May 2006, the U.S. State Department announced Satterfield’s promotion to senior adviser on Iraq to Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state.