He briefly taught physical chemistry at the London University before moving to Pakistan. Upon his return, he joined the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) and took the professorship of nuclear chemistry at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH). Subsequently, he joined the clandestine atomic bomb project's chemistry section led by fellow chemist Iqbal Hussain Qureshi.
Munir Ahmad Khan, chairman PAEC, had him partially take over the "R-Labs" at PAEC to engage research in chemical explosives. Initially, the research was concentrated towards development of the HMX, a non-toxic explosive that was produced as a by-product of the RDX process. In the 1970s, he founded the Metallurgical Laboratory (ML) where he also moved majority of the staff to undertake research in metallurgy. He then led a team of chemists who supervised the physical conversion of UF into solid metal before coating and machining the metal. During this time, he also led the research on using chemical and metallurgical industrial techniques and reduction furnaces to produce metal from the Highly enriched uranium. Due to the sensitivity of the project and concerns of fellow theorist Dr. AQ Khan, the program was moved to KRL in the 1980s.