Prior to his academic career Golden served seven years as a police officer, hazardous materials specialist and environmental crimes detective.

Golden was named the inaugural Pontarelli Professor of Environmental Sustainability and Finance in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in August 2021.

At Duke University Golden's teaching and research focused on "examining organizational and technology intervention strategies in regards to regional and global social and environmental impacts from population and consumptive patterns".

[5] Prior to September 2010, Golden was an assistant professor and honors faculty in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University (2006–2010), after its formation from the Center for Environmental Studies (2003–2006).

[6][7] In 2006 he founded and became the Director of The National Center of Excellence on SMART Innovations for Urban Climate & Energy and in 2008 he was the Founder and co-director of The Sustainability Consortium, both positions held until his transition to Duke in 2010.

[12] In 2017, Golden became the vice chancellor for research at East Carolina University (ECU) and a tenured full professor of Engineering while holding a secondary appointment in Supply Chain.

[19][20] Walmart Stores Inc. provided the initial financial investment that allowed the creation of the Sustainability Consortium and since then several other large corporations have joined (including McDonald's, Disney and Coca-Cola).

So we outlined a proposal to Walmart to develop a consortium of academic researchers from institutions to think through the process and try to bring it to life based on the best available sound science and engineering principles available.

[28] Golden was the founder and director of the EPA-designated National Center of Excellence on SMART (Sustainable Materials & Renewable Technologies) Innovations at ASU.