In 1971, at the age of 29, Wulf-Mathies joined the then German Chancellor
Willy Brandt’s office in Bonn. In the government of
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, she later led the Federal Chancellery’s department of social affairs. In 1976, Wulf-Mathies left the chancellor’s office to join the managing board of the public service trade union
ÖTV. Four years later, and to many observers’ surprise, she was elected as the first woman ever to lead one of Germany's most powerful unions, succeeding
Heinz Kluncker. In this capacity, she also served as president of
Public Services International (PSI) from 1989 until 1995. In 1994, Wulf-Mathies was – again unexpectedly – appointed as one of Germany's two
European Commissioners by Chancellor
Helmut Kohl; she succeeded
Peter Schmidhuber. From 1994 until 1998, she served as
European Commissioner for Regional Policy in the
administration of
President Jacques Santer. After leaving the European Commission, Wulf-Mathies served as Executive Vice President Head of Corporate Public Policy and Sustainability at
Deutsche Post from 2001 until 2009, working under the leadership of the company's CEO
Klaus Zumwinkel. From 2009 until 2011 she worked as policy advisor to the Board of Management, this time under
Frank Appel. In 2018, Wulf-Mathies was appointed by intendant
Tom Buhrow to lead an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment at German public broadcaster
Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). ==Other activities==