Neils has been a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, a Resident of the American Academy in Rome, and Fellow at the Getty Research Institute. For six years she was on the curatorial staff of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where she organized numerous exhibitions and wrote the second volume of its catalogue of Greek vases. She is also a field archaeologist and has worked at Torone in northern Greece, as well as three sites (Murlo, Poggio Colla and Morgantina) in Italy. She is currently the chair of the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (2012-2016).