James Young worked for a private company for 7 years as a project engineer and project manager on various U.S. Army Corp projects, municipal street projects, and state highway projects. James worked at the Ohio Department of Transportation Office for 13 years. He worked in the office of Roadway and Traffic Engineering. James was Deputy Director of the Division of Engineering from 2011 to 2014. He had eight different offices under his leadership.

James has worked at City of Columbus, Ohio for the Department of Public Service for the last 8 years. He is the City Engineer/ Administrator for the Division of Design and Construction. He is responsible for the delivery of the Capital Program for the Department of Public Service. His team scopes projects, develops construction plans, and administers construction of the streets, bridges, and traffic signals. His team is actively managing 90+ design projects and currently has over $280M in active construction. The City of Columbus has approximately 900,000 residents and covers 229 square miles.