Kirsteen is Professor of Human Resource Management at Edinburgh Napier University. Her research interests incorporate professional, responsible, and extreme work; future of work; younger workers; and talent management. She has published widely on a variety of work and employment issues, and between 2019-2021 edited the Journal of Management Development. She now serves on multiple editorial, advisory, and review boards.

Kirsteen draws on complementary backgrounds in academia and organisational practice. Her practitioner experience encompassed senior leadership roles geared around leading and supporting complex organisational change, and she has worked extensively in the areas of professional development, leadership, and learning and talent development. Kirsteen is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA), and Certified Management and Business Educator (CMBE).