Jason joined UC Davis in 2018 as a professor and the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology. 

Prior to attending Western Carolina University in North Carolina, he served in the United States Army as an aircraft mechanic and flight crew member. He has a long history at land-grant institutions and conducting outreach, beginning with his Ph.D. at Virginia Tech and later as a postdoctoral researcher at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Jason was a member of the Biological Sciences faculty at Auburn University, serving as department chair from 2015 to 2018. Before that, he served as director of the Auburn University Museum of Natural History from 2011 to 2015 where he played a major role in the design and construction of a new collections facility. 

Since 2021, Jason has served CA&ES as the associate dean of agricultural programs and in February 2024 he became director of the R.M. Bohart Museum of Entomology. In his role as associate dean he provided leadership in a number of key roles, including the Resnick Agricultural Innovation Fund Committee, the inaugural symposium to highlight the contributions of faculty to the California Agricultural Experiment Station, or AES, and establishing a new high throughput plant phenotyping facility.