James was born and raised in the mountains around Grenoble, France. As soon as he was old enough to stand he was put on skis. While his older brothers preferred snowboarding, he chose Cross Country skiing. By the age of 9, he was already doing his first races. He joined the British team by the age of 16, and has evolved through the GB pathway system to the highest level.

He made his World Cup debut at Ruka, Finland in November 2017, and scored his first world cup points (top 30) in Davos, Switzerland in December 2018.  James has had 3 World Cup top 10s, and his best individual result is finishing 6th at the World Cup in Davos in 2022.