Five times, he was a stunt double for Brad Pitt and two times for Jean-Claude Van Damme. Then he and his crew won two awards for The Bourne Ultimatum at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Moreover, he shared a 2008 Taurus World Stunt Award with fellow stunt-person Kai Martin for high work. In 2009, he wrote and starred in Confessions of an Action Star, a parody of action films and the action film industry. In 1997, he and Chad Stahelski opened an action design production company called 87Eleven. He and Stahelski also were second-unit directors and stunt co-ordinators of Ninja Assassin in 2009. Next, the two co-directed the 2014 film John Wick although David himself was not credited as co-ordinator. David went on to produce the two John Wick sequels, which Stahelski solo directed. Eventually, he moved on to direct films such as Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw with his wife and creative partner Kelly McCormick serving as a producer.

He went on to sign to direct Undying Love in January 2019, based on the limited comic book series by Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman for Studio 8. In September 2020, he signed to direct and produce the stuntman drama The Fall Guy for Universal Pictures with Ryan Gosling starring. Next, he was set to direct the action thriller Fast & Loose for Netflix and STXfilms, with Will Smith set to star. However, by March 2022, he had departed the project to focus instead on The Fall Guy.