She contributes to The New York Times and The Sydney Morning Herald and has been a regular host of The Drum, a television news review program on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

Her non-fiction work includes a bestselling memoir, a biography on Queen Victoria and a meditation on the experience of grace during a time of dark politics.

[12] Baird began her career as a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald in 1998,[9] winning her first Walkley Award for her online coverage of the 1998 Australian federal election.

[21][22][23] The programme continued on for another 11 years, with Baird sharing the hosting role with Ellen Fanning and Dan Bourchier, having featured 1,000 guest panelists, before its last show in December, 2023.

[24][25] In May 2024, Baird returned to radio broadcasting with the launch of Not Stupid; a weekly news review conversation presented alongside Jeremy Fernandez.

[29] Baird's reporting on religious minority groups includes an ongoing investigation into the experience of a middle eastern Christian family as they grieve the unexplained death of their daughter at a childcare facility.

[2] One Sydney Morning Herald reviewed the book as a meditation on the “desire to see, experience and express grace” as "fascinating, wide-ranging and moving.

[45][46][3] Her younger brother, Steve Baird, has led International Justice Mission in Australia, an anti modern slavery organisation.

[20][48] Baird has been a strong critic of conservative Christian traditions and has campaigned for the ordination of women[49] in the Sydney diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia.