She served as Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for North East Derbyshire from 2005 until her defeat at the 2017 general election.

After returning to Britain to work as a Teletext subtitler, Engel learned British Sign Language and volunteered as a communication support worker.

She performed the same role for Liam Byrne in 2008 when he was at the Cabinet Office, and then for John Denham when he was Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in 2009.

On 15 June 2010, the House of Commons voted to create a Backbench Business Committee, and one week later, Engel defeated Sir Alan Haselhurst 202 to 173 in a secret ballot of MPs to become its first chair.

[10] Engel's role was to allocate roughly one day a week parliamentary debating time between competing backbenchers by a process described by Quentin Letts as akin to Dragons' Den.

Alongside her fellow Deputies, Rt Hon Sir Lindsay Hoyle and Dame Eleanor Laing, Engel never said how she voted in the 2016 EU referendum knowing that she would later have to chair debates on the subject.

Engel was on the Board of Trustees of the UK Youth Parliament and has worked to encourage young people to participate in democracy.

"[24] From 2019 to 2022, Engel was partner at policy and opinion research agency, Public First where she established the energy and infrastructure practice.