For the next eleven years, Rubin held various academic positions. She served for a year as an Instructor of Mathematics and Physics at Montgomery College. From 1955 to 1965 she worked at Georgetown University as a research associate astronomer, lecturer (1959–1962), and finally, assistant professor of astronomy (1962–1965). She joined the Carnegie Institution of Washington (later called Carnegie Institute of Science) in 1965 as a staff member in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism. There she met her long-time collaborator, instrument-maker Kent Ford. Because she had young children, she did much of her work from home.