Haider was born on a wheat farm in Mandan, North Dakota, moved to California as a teenager, and in 1927 received his B.A.

In 1938 he moved to New York as manager of Exxon's production engineering and research, and in 1945 became executive assistant in the Producing Department.

He then became president and a director of International Petroleum Company, Limited, responsible for parts of South America.

He was elected to Spain's Instituto de Cultura Hispánica (1962) and was awarded its Gran Cruz de la Order del Merito Civil in 1969, in which year he also received Italy's Cavaliere di Gran Croce.

In 1970 he was awarded the Charles Frederic Rand Memorial Gold Medal, bestowed by the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers.