Shinnie made his first-team debut for Rangers on 17 March 2007, coming on as a substitute for Dado Pršo in a Scottish Premier League match against Aberdeen.

[8] On 29 November, he made his debut, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 draw against St Johnstone; three months later on 21 February 2009, he scored his first senior goal in a 4–1 win over Livingston.

[13][14] Released by Rangers at the end of the 2010–11 season, Shinnie signed a two-year contract with SPL club Inverness Caledonian Thistle after impressing as a trialist in pre-season.

[17][19] Shinnie scored the second goal as Inverness beat Dunfermline Athletic 3–1 in the Scottish Cup fourth round replay on 18 January 2012, but broke a metatarsal during the match.

[25] By January, he had still not signed a new contract, and was linked with fellow SPL club Aberdeen,[26] but had still not ruled out staying with Inverness CT.[27] Shinnie scored the opening goal in the League Cup semi-final, but opponents Heart of Midlothian equalised, and then won the match in a penalty shootout.

[22] – but his general form earned him a place on the four-man shortlist for the 2012–13 SPFA Players' Player of the Year Award[29] and a place in the PFA Scotland SPL Team of the Year[30] In April, Shinnie signed a pre-contract agreement to join English Football League Championship club Birmingham City when his Inverness contract expired at the end of the season.

[33] He scored his first goal in the League Cup against Yeovil Town, when he "lashed home Chris Burke's fizzing cross"; Birmingham progressed to the third round on penalties.

[34] He should have scored at Queens Park Rangers in September, when he "blazed his shot over the crossbar" after Birmingham broke at pace,[35] and he spent four games out of the league side, during which time he worked in the gym to improve his physical strength and in training on sharpness.

[33] He returned with a good performance in a 3–3 draw at Burnley,[40] and scored a headed goal in a 3–2 win away at fellow relegation candidates Millwall,[41] but was substituted early in the next match when Clark wanted to field an extra striker.

[42] He was an unused substitute in the final match of the season, as Birmingham came back from 2–0 down at Bolton Wanderers to avoid relegation on goal difference via a stoppage-time equaliser and other results going in their favour.

[44] His next first-team appearance was at Blackburn Rovers on 21 October when he was recalled to the squad by the caretaker managers the day after Clark was sacked; he came on in the 80th minute and came close to scoring an equaliser when his shot from 20 yards (18 m) struck the underside of the crossbar but failed to cross the line.

[47] Shinnie signed a two-year contract extension in the 2015 close season,[51] but lost his first-choice playmaker role to loanee Jon Toral, whose goalscoring – and the fact that he was part of a winning side – made him hard to leave out.

[55][54] Despite performing well in 2016 pre-season, Shinnie remained behind Diego Fabbrini as Birmingham's playmaker of choice, and on 17 August, he signed for Scottish Championship club Hibernian on loan for the season.