Following his PhD, Tarascon did postdoctoral research at Cornell University. He worked at Bell Labs and Bellcore from 1982 to 1994, then moved to the University of Picardie Jules Verne in 1994. He has been at the College de France since 2010. He is also credited with laying foundations of the reputable Erasmus mundus masters course in energy storage and conversion "Materials for energy storage and conversion" hosted by UPJV, Amiens in association with seven universities across the globe and several energy research networks.