In 1551 he was made rector of Newton, Ely, and served the chapelry of St Mary-by-the-Sea; and on 12 February 1551-2 he obtained the rectory of Elm in the Isle of Ely-cum-Emneth, Norfolk.
About the same time he was requested by William Cecil to join with Pory[2] and Matthew Parker in settling a dispute between the president and fellows of Queens' College, Cambridge.
He also appears to have been rector of Cottenham, Snailwell, and Littleport in Cambridgeshire, and master of St John's Hospital, Ely.
Parker employed him with Dr Perne in 1568 to compose the differences which had arisen in Corpus Christi College.
In 1570, Leeds, who had probably acquired a fortune by his practice in Doctors' Commons, purchased from Sir Richard Sackville the manor of Croxton in Cambridgeshire.
He founded ten scholarships at Clare, and gave one thousand marks towards the building of Emmanuel College.