Johnson is currently serving as Senior Advisor to the President of Khalifa University, providing expert counsel on complex strategic and operational matters.

He recently served as the chief executive officer[2] of the Technology Innovation Institute and of ASPIRE, both based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Johnson has experience in a variety of executive positions, including the senior vice president and business unit general manager at SAIC, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Modern Technology Solutions, Inc,[4] and corporate senior vice president for engineering, technology, and operations and chief technology officer of the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Johnson is a Full Academician of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), a Fellow of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Phi Kappa Phi.

He served on The Science Agenda session at the 2011 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting as the industry's representative.