After her master's degree in history and French philology, Nele Hofmann worked in various positions not affiliated with academia, primarily in the field of press and public relations. In 2015, she assumed the coordination of the first Summer School “Quo Vadis Research Quality?”, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, at the Department of Science Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. From 2016-2020, she was personal advisor to the Institute Director (Professor Stefan Hornbostel) of the Institute for Research Information and Quality Assurance (iFQ), which was integrated into the German Center for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW) as Department 2 in 2016. In 2019, she also assumed the coordination of the Robert K. Merton Center for Science Studies at Humboldt-Universität, which she particularly supported during its start-up phase.

Nele Hofmann has been the scientific coordinator for research quality in Objective 3 of the Berlin University Alliance since May 2020.