[1] Young was initially employed as an economist at the Securities and Exchange Commission,[2] where he worked until 1938, when he moved to the Treasury Department, where he worked on the Lend-Lease Program at the start of World War II.

[4] After the war Young entered the private sector, where he worked until becoming dean of Columbia University's Business School in 1948.

When Eisenhower became President of the United States in 1953, he appointed Young as his personnel manager and named him to a position on the Civil Service Commission.

[8][9] He garnered mixed attention for carrying out an executive order to purge government departments of individuals who were only suspected of being subversive.

[11] He then worked for several years as a management consultant before retiring to Van Hornesville, New York and Great Falls, Virginia.