Zguladze worked for several international organizations based in Tbilisi and, from 2004 to 2005, the United States foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge Corporation – Georgia.

After Merabishvili's successor, Bachana Akhalaia, resigned in response to an inmate abuse scandal in Tbilisi's Gldani prison on 19 September 2012, Zguladze was appointed Acting Minister of Internal Affairs and served on this position until the opposition Georgian Dream coalition, victorious in the October parliamentary election, formed a new government on 25 October 2012.

[6] She was also the ministry's spokesperson on a range of issues, including during negotiations with foreign diplomats, and briefed the media during the tense days of the August 2008 war with Russia.

Earlier that month, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko granted her Ukrainian citizenship to make her eligible for the post.

[4][8] On her plans for police reform, she stated, "We're not producing cosmetic changes; we need to create a brand new system of law enforcement.