Jim Davies studied mathematics at New College, Oxford, joining the Computing Laboratory in 1986 for a Masters' and Doctorate. After working as a researcher and lecturer in computer science, at Oxford, the Reading, and Royal Holloway, University of London, he became a lecturer in software engineering at Oxford in 1995. He has led the Software Engineering Programme since 2000, and was made Professor of Software Engineering in 2006.

Davies is an expert in formal methods, including Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) and the Z notation.