• 1981-1987
  Secondary education, Aloysius College, The Hague
• 1987-1993
  Applied Physics, Delft University of Technology
• 1995
  MBA, European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD), Fontainebleau, France

• 1994 and 1996-2002
  McKinsey & Company, Amsterdam and San Francisco
• 2002-2003
  Project leader for the internal reorganisation of the newly established Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), Amsterdam; appointed director in May 2003
• 27 May 2003 – 22 February 2007
  State Secretary for Economic Affairs in the second and third Balkenende governments
• 30 November 2006 – 3 September 2008
  Member of the House of Representatives for the CDA
• 2008-2020
  Various executive roles at ING Groep; from October 2015, CEO ING Bank France, Paris
• 2020-2022
  Chair of the board of directors of health insurance cooperative Coöperatie VGZ, Arnhem
• 10 January 2022
  Appointed Minister of Social Affairs and Employment in the fourth Rutte government
• 5 September 2023
  Appointed Deputy Prime Minister in the fourth Rutte Government

• 2002-2003
  Member of the board of the CDA in Amsterdam

Karien van Gennip has held various other board-level positions, including:

• November 2021 – January 2022
  Member of the supervisory board of TomTom N.V.
• 2020-2022
  Member of the board of the Orange Fund, an organisation that funds social intiatives
• 2021-2022
  Member of the board of Zorgverzekeraars Nederland, an umbrella organisation of health insurance providers
• 2019-2022
  Board member, INSEAD
• 2017
  Member of the steering committee for the study ‘L’Europe dont nous avons besoin’, Institut Montaigne
• 2012-2019
  Vice-chair and board member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC)
• 2008-2015
  Member of the supervisory board of independent research institute Deltares
• 2007-2015
  Chair of the supervisory board of children’s charity SOS Kinderdorpen Nederland
• 2007-2015
  Chair of the supervisory board of emergency relief and development charity Cordaid