In his early career, Ingebrigtsen was a political adviser for the Labour Party parliamentary group from 1989 to 1991. In 1991 he had a short stint as a journalist in Dagbladet.[1] He also served as a deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from Troms during the term 1989–1993. In total he met during 9 days of parliamentary session. During Brundtland's Third Cabinet, from 1992 to 1996, Ingebrigtsen was a political adviser in the Ministry of Local Government and Work Affairs.[2]
On 30 November 2012, he resigned his position as State Secretary after it was revealed that he in 2004 had a sexual affair with a fellow party member, 20 years his junior, who was 17 years old at the time the affair began. He also withdrew from the nomination process to the 2013 Norwegian parliamentary election where he had been competing with Martin Henriksen for the top position on the Labour Party list in Troms.[3] The nomination committee had nominated Henriksen for the first ballot spot, Tove Karoline Knutsen for the second and Ingebrigtsen for the third spot.[4] The circumstance that the offended woman had first taken her revelation to Tonje Brenna, a party official who lives together with Henriksen, led to published speculations that the information had been deployed politically in favor of Henriksen's candidacy.[5]
Days after the story broke, a colleague of Ingebrigtsen stated that he had notified the Labour party about the affair one year before, but nothing had been done.[6] On 4 December, yet another former youth politician came out and accused Ingebrigtsen of pressuring her into sexual relations.[7] In response to these later accusations, the leader of the Labour party representatives in the Troms county parliament, Kristin Røymo declared Ingebrigtsen persona non grata, saying that he was "not welcome" back into the party.[8] On 6 December Roger Ingebrigtsen resigned from all posts locally, thereby effectively ending his political career altogether.[9]