Klaus Bollinger studied Civil Engineering at the Technical University of Darmstadt between the years of 1972-1979. He has also served as an assistant professor at the University of Dortmund between the years of 1981-1984 and received his PhD in 1984. In addition to being a practicing engineer, Klaus Bollinger served as the Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria from 1999 to 2003. He has also been a professor of structures at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna since 1994. Bollinger has been a notable advocate of collaboration between the architect and engineer, especially during the design phase, so that "innovative approaches can be developed".

Together with Manfred Grohmann, he founded the engineering studio Bollinger + Grohmann in 1983, which today has branch offices in Frankfurt, Vienna and Paris. Bollinger + Grohmann received First Prize of the Architecture + Technology Award for their plans for Kunsthaus Graz (architects: Peter Cook, Colin Fournier) and for the ZOB Herne roof they received the Preis des Deutschen Stahlbaus (German Steel Construction Award) in 2006. A further project the company worked on was "BMW Welt" in Munich 2007 (architects: Coop Himmelb(l)au), the giant car delivery center and recreation complex completed in 2007.