Mander returned to Australia in 1966 to become a lecturer in organic chemistry at the University of Adelaide. He was promoted to Senior Lecturer in organic chemistry in 1970, where he remained until 1975. During this time Mander visited the University of Cambridge to research "...pathways to the pigments of life". In 1977, he served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the California Institute of Technology. He was a distinguished Alumnus Professor at the University of Auckland in 1992 and an Eminent Scientist of RIKEN at Wako, in Saitama Prefecture, Japan from 1995 to 1996.
In Australia, he relocated to the Australian National University Research School of Chemistry as a Senior Fellow. He retired in 2002 but retained the title of Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University.
Notable students of Mander's include Jacqueline Whalley, professor at Auckland University of Technology.