Ghinelli joined UKRI-STFC in 2010 as executive director of business development. Successes included the creation of ISIC (now Satellite Application Catapult) at Harwell and securing the initial government investment to establish the High Performance Computing Centre (Hartree) at Daresbury. She joined UKRI-STFC from EADS Astrium (now Airbus DS), where she managed business development across Europe for the €3.2bn joint ESA/EU Earth Observation Programme for Global Monitoring of Environment and Security (now Copernicus) and secured a number of large contracts. She graduated in electronic engineering at the University of York, completed her PhD in artificial intelligence and radar imaging at the University of Sheffield and holds a certificate in management from the Open University.