He studied political science at the Otto Suhr Institute (OSI) of the Free University of Berlin from 1999 until 2004.

[6] He unsuccessfully ran as candidate for the electoral district of Berlin-Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg – Prenzlauer Berg East in the 2009 national elections.

From December 2011 Böhning served as Head of the Senate Chancellery of the Federal State of Berlin, first under Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit (2011–2014) and later under Michael Müller (2014–2018).

[7] In the negotiations to form a Grand Coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU together with the Bavarian CSU) and the SPD following the 2013 German elections, he was part of the SPD delegation in the working group on digital policy, led by Dorothee Bär and Brigitte Zypries.

In the fourth coalition government of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Böhning has been serving as State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs under the leadership of minister Hubertus Heil since 2018.