Pandey served as a maize scientist, and Director of Maize Program and Director of African Livelihoods Program at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) - a center of the CGIAR, over a period of 30 years before joining Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) where he served as the Director of Agricultural Support Systems Division and of Plant Production and Protection Division. At FAO, he also chaired the Inter-departmental Working Group on Biotechnologies covering crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries, and food processing sectors. He led the Organization’s efforts to develop and launch a new paradigm for sustainable intensification of crop production - Save and Grow - to increase food production, while protecting and enhancing natural resources.