A member of the Senior Foreign Service,[1] Taylor served as the United States Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

In 1985, upon his return to the states, he was appointed Deputy Director of Press and Public Affairs in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs remaining on the post until 1987 when he took up the role of Deputy Policy Officer for Latin America at the United States Information Agency.

In 2001-2003, he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and Director of the Office of Employee Relations in the Bureau of Human Resources.

[3] On September 21, 2009 he was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, also accredited to US embassies in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

In Panama, he coached a teenager basketball team in Panama Canal Zone; in Hungary, he was the Chairperson of the Cub and Boy Scout parent organization and merit badge instructor and Chairman of the Eagle Scout Board of Review committee.