During the end of her undergraduate studies and throughout her graduate program, Dr. Jinnah worked as an Associate Broker at Cantor Fitzgerald (2000-2002). After graduating from UC Berkeley with her PhD, she joined Brown University as a Postdoctoral Fellow (2008-2009). At this time, Dr. Jinnah was also a Consultant and Team Leader at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (2006-2014). In the role, she was focused on providing services related to reporting and earth negotiations/ From 2009 to 2016, she worked as a tenured Associate Professor at the School of International Service at American University, where she taught in the Global Environmental Politics program. In 2016, she joined the University of California, Santa Cruz as an Associate Professor before being promoted to Professor of Environmental Studies in 2022. At the university, she teaches courses including Globalization and the Environment, Global Climate Politics, and Global Environmental Politics, among others.

Additionally, her research focused on power in global environmental governance, specifically looking at the role of transnational actors in environmental decision-making. More recently, she has analyzed how norms in global climate politics shape power and the politics of climate engineering governance. At UC Santa Cruz, Dr. Jinnah also serves as the Center for Reimagining Leadership Associate Director.

Highlighting her expertise in the field, she has authored six books and over 50 academic articles and chapters in reputable journals. Her book, Post-Treaty Politics: Secretariat Influence in Global Environmental Governance, won the 2016 Harold and Margaret Sprout Award from the International Studies Association. Additionally, she has received numerous accolades, including her selection as an Andrew Carnegie Fellow and the 2014 William Cromwell Award for Outstanding Teaching at American University. In addition to her role at the university, she edits Environmental Politics and serves on the Engineering and Medicine Committee at the US National Academies of Science.

Reflecting on career highlights, Dr. Jinnah speaks about her participation on the advisory committee for a proposed stratospheric aerosol injection experiment, which scientists at Harvard University recently canceled. She recalls that despite the process being challenging in terms of substance and interpersonal relationships on the committee, the overall experience was an opportunity to apply governance theories she has been writing about for decades.