He served as President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University from November 2006 to February 2017.
From 1988 to 1998, he was a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Society in Germany and at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom.
On November 27, 2006, Zhang replaced Xie Shengwu as President of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
[citation needed] Zhang Jie is a member of the Board of Trustees of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
[3] Zhang Jie was an alternate member of the 17th and 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.