Andréa M. Maechler was born in Geneva in 1969. She studied economics at the University of Toronto, and then at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, where she obtained her Master's in International Economics. Following a period of study at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Public Administration in Lausanne, she obtained her PhD in International Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 2000.

Andréa M. Maechler's early career took her to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). From 1999 to 2001, she worked as an economist in the Swiss National Bank's (SNB) Financial Stability unit in Zurich. She then moved to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she occupied a number of senior positions in the Africa, Monetary and Capital Markets, Western Hemisphere and Strategy, Policy and Review departments. From 2012 to 2014, during a sabbatical from the IMF, she worked for the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) in Frankfurt. Upon returning to the IMF, she was appointed as Deputy Division Chief in the Global Markets Analysis Division. The functions of this division include monitoring global capital markets, and assessing systemic risks and the macrofinancial impact of capital market developments.

With effect from 1 July 2015, the Federal Council appointed Andréa M. Maechler as Member of the SNB's Governing Board - the first woman to occupy a Board position. At the same time, she became Head of Department III (Financial Markets, Banking Operations and Information Technology).

Andréa M. Maechler is a member of the Advisory Board of the Department of Banking and Finance at the University of Zurich.