He held the traditional series of military, administrative and judicial positions of steadily increasing responsibility which aspiring upper class Romans were expected to progress through, known as the cursus honorum.

Sabinianus returned to Rome to participate in the magistracies of the cursus honorum, the sequential mixture of military and political administrative positions held by aspiring politicians in the early Roman Empire.

Vettius Sabinianus’ next appointment was a special command, functioning as the imperial legate responsible for investigating the status of the Cyclades in relation to their administration by the Roman province of Asia.

[7] This was followed by another special appointment, as Legatus Aug. Rationibus putandis trium Galliarum or legate in control of the urban finances of the three Gallic provinces, again reporting directly to the Emperor.

[10] After a brief period in Rome as praefect of the aerarium Saturni (state treasury), he was again posted to the frontier, this time as legatus Augusti pro praetore, imperial governor, of Pannonia Superior, where he served from around 170 to 175.

[11] Positioning himself in Rome, Sabinianus also had to ensure that those within the city opposed to the continued war against the Germans, headed by the family of Lucius Verus, did not take advantage of Cassius' rebellion to undermine imperial authority.

Next he was appointed legatus Augusti pro praetore (imperial legate) of Dalmatia in AD 177, with instructions to deal with the bandits which infested the areas around modern Albania and Montenegro, which the previous governor Didius Julianus had been unable to eradicate.

The last position Sabinianus is recorded to have held, in around AD 191, was proconsular governor of Africa which, because of the reliance of the city of Rome on its grain, was considered the most important Roman governorship.