From 2002 to 2007 Müntefering studied journalism with a focus on economics, graduated with a bachelor's degree and initially worked freelance in the media.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Müntefering was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by Ursula von der Leyen, Gerd Müller and Sigmar Gabriel.

Between February and March 2018, she briefly served as member of the SPD parliamentary group’s leadership under chairwoman Andrea Nahles.

[3] In April 2023, Müntefering announced her intention to resign from the German Parliament and instead run in the 2024 European elections;[4] however, she failed to get her party's nomination.

[5] In 2017, when media reports revealed Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT had illegally been spying on Germans suspected of ties to Fethullah Gulen, Müntefering was found to be one of the subjects of surveillance.