Jander was born in Altdöbern, Oberspreewald-Lausitz. Jander studied in Technical University of Munich, and at University of Berlin where he received his Ph.D for work with  Arthur Rosenheim in 1917. He joined Richard Zsigmondy at the University of Göttingen. He became professor in 1925 and after a two-year period being a temporary director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Elektrochemistry from 1933 till 1935 he became professor for inorganic chemistry at the University of Greifswald. In 1951 he changed to the Technical University of Berlin. Jander died in Berlin in 1961.