In 2013, Leinen was appointed the 11th director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, as well as the dean of the School of Marine Sciences at the University of California, San Diego.
For two years, Leinen also worked as chief science officer for a startup company in green technology and climate change mitigation.
[2] Leinen has also served as the U.S. Department of State science envoy for the oceans to Latin America and the Pacific.
[5][6] She has been elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science[7] and of the Geological Society of America.
[9] In 2020, Leinen was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences[10][2] and was named a fellow of The Oceanography Society[11] and an Honorary Member of the AMS in 2022.