James is a UEFA Pro Licence holder and is currently Hibernian FC Academy Head of Professional Phase.
Whilst at Hibernian James coached the u19 team along with Alistair Stevenson who won the SPFL League and Scottish Youth Cup in 2009.
They led Falkirk to the 2015 Scottish Cup Final, and second place in SPFL Championship for two consecutive years in 2016 and 2017.
McDonaugh was appointed to first managerial job at Edinburgh City on 10 October 2017, succeeding Gary Jardine.
[2][3] McDonaugh again won the SPFL League 2 Manager of the Month award in December 2019, winning all four games and keeping three clean sheets.