After completing his education, Taube remained in the United States, becoming an instructor in chemistry at Berkeley until 1941.  He initially wanted to return to Canada to work, but did not receive a response when he applied for jobs at the major Canadian universities. From Berkeley, he served as an instructor and assistant professor at Cornell University until 1946.  During World War II, Taube served on the National Defense Research Committee.  Taube spent time at the University of Chicago as an assistant professor, associate professor and as a full professor from 1946 to 1961.  He served as chair of the chemistry department in Chicago from 1956 to 1959, but did not enjoy administrative work.  After leaving Chicago, Taube worked as a professor at Stanford University until 1986, a position that allowed him to focus on research, while also teaching classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  He became a Professor Emeritus at Stanford in 1986, but he continued to perform research until 2001, and visited his labs every day until his death in 2005.  In addition to his academic duties, Taube also served as a consultant at Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1956 until the 1970s.