After graduation, she joined the Harvard Institute for International Development’s WorldTeach program and taught English in Lask, Poland, and Kaliningrad, Russia.
During her career as a Foreign Service Officer, McKnight has worked in Spain, Portugal, Malta, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Columbia, Italy, and Ukraine.
While working in Washington, DC, McKnight served as Senior Advisor for Resilience to the Director General of the Foreign Service as well as deputy director of the Office of Nordic, Baltic, and Arctic Security Affairs in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
[2] In January 2021, US Ambassador to Ireland Edward F. Crawford resigned from his role with the outgoing president, Donald Trump.
During her tenure as interim chief of mission, the US Embassy in Ireland held a tribute in 2021 to the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack of 2001.