Prince Faisal was born in Jeddah on 25 December 1970. He is the fifth son of Salman bin Abdulaziz, the King of Saudi Arabia, who had previously been the minister of defense since November 2011 and Crown Prince since June 2012. His mother is Sultana bint Turki Al Sudairi, who died in July 2011. She was a daughter of King Salman's uncle, Turki bin Ahmad Al Sudairi, who was formerly the governor of Asir Province. Faisal is a full brother of Prince Fahd, Prince Ahmed, Prince Sultan, Prince Abdulaziz and Princess Hussa (born 1974).

Faisal bin Salman holds a bachelor's degree in political science from King Saud University. He received a PhD from Oxford University in 1999. His PhD thesis was titled "Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf: Power Politics in Transition 1968-1971". It was published I.B.Tauris in 2003.

Before embarking on a business career, Faisal bin Salman was a professor of political science at King Saud University. He studied especially political relations in the Persian Gulf region among the others during his academic career. During this period he was a research fellow at Georgetown University.

After the death of his brother Prince Ahmed in 2002, Prince Faisal took over as chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), reportedly the largest media company in the Middle East, North and Central Africa. He was reported to own around seven percent of the company, while the family of his late brother Ahmed owns three percent. Faisal bin Salman is the owner of Arab News, Asharq Al-Awsat and Al Eqtisadiah. It is reported that all these publications take a pro-government position and support King Abdullah’s cautious reforms. On the other hand, these papers are among publications owned by Saudi Research and Publishing Company, which is an affiliated body of SRMG. Faisal bin Salman began to publish a new magazine through SRMG that is an Arabic translation of the magazine "Robb Report." SRMG also publishes an Islamic finance magazine and translations of Italy's design magazine Domus. In addition, the company is planning to publish other translations including Better Homes and Gardens. Prince Faisal also established a school for training journalists and other media people. He has been the chairman of Jadwa Investment, a Riyadh-based leading Saudi investment bank, since 2006. After his appointment as governor of Madinah Province, Faisal bin Salman was succeeded by his half-brother, Turki bin Salman, as chairman of the SRMG.

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