Carlo Ottaviano first studied law at the University of Augsburg from 1992 to 1994 and then studied law, international law and legal studies at Lund University. Afterwards he went to the Ludwig-Maximilans University of Munich for one year. The following two years he spent at the University of Cologne, where he studied Scandinavian languages, literature and linguistics while taking his first state examination in law.

Carlo Ottaviano started his professional life at Hecker Werner Himmelreich Rechtsanwälte Partnerschaft mbB in Cologne, where he worked as a lawyer from 2001 to 2003. He then moved to IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG in Düsseldorf as an in-house lawyer for the following three years. His next position was as Senior Associate at Aderhold Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft mbH in Cologne. From 2009 until September of 2020 he worked as General Counsel at Hochtief Infrastructure GmbH in Essen after which he moved to TenneT where he is currently still working.