Amitabh Mattoo is currently a Professor of International Politics at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University and a Member of the National Knowledge Commission, a high-level advisory group to the Prime Minister of India. From November 2002 until early December 2008, Amitabh Mattoo was also the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Jammu. Amitabh Mattoo was the youngest person ever to serve on this position. Professor Mattoo serves on the Governing council of Pugwash, the Nobel prize winning NGO and is a Director of the India-Afghanistan Foundation (established by the governments of India and Afghanistan). Professor Mattoo was, till recently, a member of India's National Security Council's Advisory Board and was also a member of the task force constituted by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Global Strategic Developments. The Task Force examined various aspects of global trends in strategic affairs and their implications for India.

He has been visiting Professor at Stanford University, USA, the University of Notre Dame and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has been Chairperson of the Centre for International Politics, Organization and Disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University.