She specialized clinically in specific prophylaxis and tropical hygiene and received her diploma from the Medical University of Vienna in 2005.

[5] Subsequently, she worked internationally as a scientist in the fields of infection epidemiology, vaccine prevention and travel medicine.

[9] Between 2008 and 2011, Rendi-Wagner was a guest lecturer at the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Tel Aviv University in Israel.

[9][11] She became a member of the National Council in the election in October; due to the change in government, she left the ministry on 18 December 2017.

[5] After Kern announced his pending resignation as SPÖ chairman in September 2018, the party executive board designated Rendi-Wagner as his successor.

[2] She stated that she wanted to define the party as modern, progressive, and cosmopolitan, pushing it to "have the courage to provide simple and understandable answers" and stand for equal opportunity and justice.

[12][13] On 28 May 2019, Rendi-Wagner was unanimously confirmed by the SPÖ executive as the party's top candidate for the 2019 federal election.

[5] In February 2020, the SPÖ announced a survey of party members to gauge their confidence in Rendi-Wagner and their opinion on key issues of social democracy.

She presented a platform concept titled "New Solidarity for Austria", which sought to the strengthen the welfare state, with a focus on health and care, as well as investments in employment and tax justice.

[18] During the late 2021 political crisis, which saw the resignation and subsequent retirement of Kurz, Rendi-Wagner accused the government of being "preoccupied with itself" during the pandemic, and void of any mandate to continue in office.

Pamela Rendi-Wagner is married to Michael Rendi [de], a former Austrian ambassador to Israel who was cabinet chief of chancellery minister Thomas Drozda (SPÖ), and has two daughters with him.