She received Master of Arts degrees from both Georgetown University and KU Leuven (Belgium), where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar.

She worked at Clark & Sauer LLC, a civil litigation firm in St. Louis, Missouri, and was an associate at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. She was special counsel at the Thomas More Society, where her practice focused on constitutional and civil rights litigation.

President Trump nominated Pitlyk to the seat vacated by Judge Catherine D. Perry, who assumed senior status on December 31, 2018.

"[4][5] Pitlyk said one reason she had never tried a case and never taken a deposition is that she has been a member of legal teams that have allowed her to arrange her schedule in order to spend more time with her children.

[7] At the hearing, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin expressed concerns about Pitlyk's lack of trial experience,[6] and other Democratic Senators including Richard Blumenthal asked her about her anti-abortion views; she responded that her personal views would not affect her work as a judge.