Rui Manuel Guerra Vitória was born in Alverca do Ribatejo on 16 April 1970. As a player he never rose above the third division, spending eleven of his years as a midfielder in the fourth tier, mostly with Vilafranquense, and he retired in 2003. He began coaching at Vilafranquense, spent two years with Benfica's junior side from 2004, and then built a career at Fátima, Paços de Ferreira and Vitória de Guimarães, whom he managed from 2011 to 2015 and led to the Taça de Portugal in 2012/13.

Benfica appointed him in June 2015 to replace Jorge Jesus, and he stayed three and a half seasons and 184 matches, winning 125. He won the championship in 2015/16 and again in 2016/17, completing the club's first run of four consecutive titles, and added the Taça de Portugal of 2016/17, the Taça da Liga of 2015/16 and the Supertaça in both 2016 and 2017. In Europe his best run was the Champions League quarter-final of 2015/16, lost to Bayern Munich. His period also coincided with the club's most profitable years in the transfer market, with Renato Sanches, Ederson, Nélson Semedo and Victor Lindelöf sold on, and with the promotion of Rúben Dias and João Félix from the academy.

He coached a patient possession game in a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3, with the ball circulated from the back and the full-backs pushed high, and he was praised for integrating young players and criticised for a lack of ambition in the biggest matches. After a poor first half of the 2018/19 season he was dismissed on 3 January 2019 with Benfica trailing Porto; Bruno Lage took over and won the title. He then coached Al-Nassr, winning the Saudi championship, Spartak Moscow, the Egypt national team, Panathinaikos and Al Wasl.