Battjes subsequently spent four years as an assistant professor at the Laboratory of Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida, in the United States.

[1][3] He started working as a professor at Delft University of Technology in the late 1960s, where he held the chair of fluid dynamics.

[4] In 1974 Battjes obtained his Doctor title in technical sciences at Delft University under Johan Schönfeld, with a thesis titled Computation of Set-up, Longshore Currents, Run-up and Overtopping due to Wind-generated Waves.

Battjes was member of the External Review Panel, charged with checking the work of the taskforce investigating the functioning of levees in Greater New Orleans.

[8] His book Unsteady flows in open channels, co-authored with Robert Jan Labeur, was selected as one of the "outstanding academic titles 2017" by Choice magazine.