Osteryoung was appointed to the faculty at Montana State University in 1967. She moved to Colorado State University a year later, where she worked in the Departments of Civil Engineering and Microbiology. In 1977, Osteryoung moved to the National Science Foundation, where she was the program director for chemical analysis.
Osteryoung was made associate professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1979 and professor in 1982. In 1985 Osteryoung was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and spent a year at the University of Southampton, where she investigated the fundamentals of solid electrodes.
Osteryoung moved to North Carolina State University in 1992, where she served as head of department for two years. In 1994, she returned to the National Science Foundation, where she was made director of the division of chemistry. She was the first woman to win the Jacob F. Schoellkopf medal in 1992.