James Dens passed through the youth systems of his hometown clubs Paraná Clube and Coritiba, starting his professional career at the latter.
In 2007, he joined Villa Nova, only to return to the Serié A by signing for Juventude later in the year, breaking into the first team and making 9 appearances.
His contract was terminated in July 2010, and he returned to the lowly Aparecida Futebol Clube, but stayed there only two weeks before being recalled to Europe and signing for the Croatian side NK Zagreb.
There he was a constant starter and had a good season, but refused to sign an extension of his contract, moving, in the summer of 2011, to a smaller division club Hajduk Split on a free transfer.
After several matches for the club, plagued by an injured knee, he had to undertake surgery, but was unable to return to professional football afterwards, retiring officially in July 2015.