Ursula Warnke studied Pre- and Early History and Ancient Oriental Archeology at the Westphalian Wilhelms University of Münster and the Phillipps University of Marburg, received her doctorate in Münster (»Der merowingerzeitliche Töpferofen von Geseke, Kr. Soest und sein Absatzgebiet«) and then worked as a research trainee at the Westphalian Museum of Archeology Münster as well as at the Office for Archaeological Monument Preservation, Middle Ages Department (local excavation manager for various city center excavations in Westphalia).

She then worked as a research assistant at the State Office for Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt, where she worked as project manager/local excavation manager for city center excavations in Haldensleben, Magdeburg and Salzwedel. She then worked, among other things, in museum and collection management at the Osnabrück Cultural History Museum and the Lower Saxony Open-Air Museum Cloppenburg, as a project developer and manager for the Inpro project development (historical locations and listed buildings), Heitkamp-Deilmann-Haniel GmbH, Dortmund, ibid for the staff department DASA – Working World Exhibition, Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

From 2006 to 2017 she was director of the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, and since 2018 she has been director of the State Museum of Nature and Man in Oldenburg.

Various teaching positions at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (Museology), at the Bremerhaven University (Heritage Management), at the Westf. Wilhelms University of Münster (Pre- and Early History, Museology) and, since SS 2018, at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg ( Museum collections).