Cristina Fraile studied Law at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and the University of Kent in Canterbury, UK. She joined the Spanish Diplomatic Career in 1990. Since then, she has been posted to the Embassies of Spain in Dakar (Senegal), Brasilia (Brazil), to the Permanent Mission of Spain to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (Vienna), to the Embassy of Spain in New Delhi (India) and to the Embassy of Spain in Vienna (Austria). In Dakar, New Delhi and Austria, she was the Deputy Chief of Mission. Since August 2015, she is the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Spain in Washington.
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, she was the Deputy Director of the International Legal Office (1999 to 2003). From July 2011 to July 2015, she was the Director of the Human Rights Office.