He has been a member of the University of Washington faculty since 1967 having officially retired in 2004 although he taught his last class in the fall term, 2007.
While a member of the University of Washington faculty, Bacharach served as Chair, Department of History; Director, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies; and Interim Chair, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization.
He has served in Cairo as Interim Director, American Research Center in Egypt and has held numerous other positions in various professional organizations.
His publications have ranged from the architecture of power in the Islamic world to the use of African slaves in military Muslim armies.
The latter appeared as “Islamic History through Coins” [Cairo: AUC Press, 2006], which was the co-winner of the 2007 Samir-Shamma-Prize of the Royal Numismatic Society of Great Britain for the best book in Islamic numismatics during the preceding two years.