Brian Anderson's career was primarily in academia, with appointments at Stanford University, Newcastle University and Australian National University. He also served on company boards of directors and technical advisory boards, and held many part-time federal government appointments. He was President of the International Federation of Automatic Control (1990-1993) and President of the Australian Academy of Science (1998-2002). His research work, principally on control systems, has been recognized with a range of medals and prizes, and he remains research-active, focussing interests on social networks, epidemic control, and a range of control and signal processing problems arising in the operation of drones.

Professor Anderson is one of Australia's most distinguished younger Engineering Professors.

He has developed in his university department a research group of world standing in control systems and related areas of electrical engineering, and has successfully pioneered such innovations as the first computer engineering degree in Australia.

Professor Anderson's many contributions include some of great significance. For example, his book on linear optimal control both included developments of his own and his colleagues and presented the subject in a way which has ensured its wide useage in the industrial sector. For this and other contributions, he was elected in 1975 as the second resident Australian Fellow of the Institution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.