Sciutto is a 1992 graduate of Yale University. Sciutto got his start in television as moderator and producer of a Public Broadcasting Service program, "The Student Press," a weekly public affairs talk show aimed at college students. He was Hong Kong correspondent for Asia Business News, covering the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. He also covered stories in China, Mongolia, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore and South Korea. He joined ABC News in 1998, working in Chicago before moving to Washington to cover the Pentagon.

Jim Sciutto is now an ABC News Senior Foreign correspondent, based in London. He was the only American journalist to report from inside Myanmar during the government crackdown in the Fall 2007, and the only American television reporter to file from inside Zimbabwe during the election crisis in April 2008. He has reported from more than forty countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Sciutto attended the Jesuit college preparatory school Regis High School in Manhattan and graduated from Yale University cum laude.He is married to ABC News correspondent Gloria Riviera.