Jon Snyder began his career as a primary grades schoolteacher in Vancouver, Washington. He also worked on curriculum development and as a staff developer.

After receiving his doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, Snyder worked as a researcher and a teacher/educator at Teachers College; the National Center for the Restructuring of Education, Schools, and Teaching; the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and as Dean and then Chief Academic Officer at Bank Street College of Education. Snyder then served as Executive Director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, a position he retired from in 2021.

Snyder has written extensively on issues related to educator preparation, practice, and policy. Much of his work has focused on educator development—from preparation and induction through retirement—performance assessment, and pedagogy. He remains engaged in researching the learning of educators, conditions that support educator learning, and the relationships between educator and student learning.