Jorge Fernando Pinheiro de Jesus was born in Amadora on 24 July 1954. He had a modest playing career as a midfielder, largely in the Portuguese lower divisions, and turned to coaching in the early 1990s, working his way up through Felgueiras, União da Madeira, Estrela da Amadora, Vitória de Setúbal, Vitória de Guimarães, Moreirense and União de Leiria before spells at Belenenses and Braga made his reputation.

He arrived at Benfica in the summer of 2009 and won the championship in his first season, 2009/10, the club's first for five years, along with the Taça da Liga, with a side built around Ángel Di María, Ramires, Javi García, Pablo Aimar and Óscar Cardozo that scored more goals than any Portuguese champion in years. The first spell, which ran until 2015, brought three championships, in 2009/10, 2013/14 and 2014/15, a Taça de Portugal, five League Cups and a Supertaça, including the domestic treble of 2013/14, and two consecutive Europa League final defeats, to Chelsea in Amsterdam in 2013, decided by a Branislav Ivanović header in stoppage time, and to Sevilla on penalties in Turin in 2014.

In the summer of 2015 he left for Sporting, a move that made him a hate figure for a large part of the Benfica support and led the club to pursue him for compensation. After three years at Sporting he coached Al-Hilal and then Flamengo, winning the Copa Libertadores and the Brazilian championship in 2019, and he returned to Benfica on 3 August 2020. The second spell brought nothing: Benfica finished third in 2020/21 and were eliminated early in Europe, and he left by mutual agreement in December 2021 after a 3-0 defeat at Porto in the cup, his last match in charge. Across the two spells he took charge of 404 matches and won 279.

His football was aggressive and highly organised: a high defensive line, immediate pressing to win the ball back in the opponent's half, and quick vertical passing to the forwards. He is the most successful Benfica coach of the modern era and the most divisive. He later coached Fenerbahçe, returned to Al-Hilal and then took charge of Al-Nassr.