Budak Dilli graduated from the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU) in 1972 with a BSc degree and obtained his MSc degree in 1974.

Between 1973 and 1994, he held various positions at the Turkish Electricity Authority (TEK), followed by roles at the Turkish Electricity Generation and Transmission Corporation (TEAŞ) from 1994 to 1997. He served as Deputy General Manager of TEAŞ from 1997 to 2001.

From 2001 to 2010, he worked at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, first as Deputy General Manager (2001-2003) and subsequently as General Manager.

During his tenure at TEK and TEAŞ, he was involved in the development and operation of communication and control systems, the establishment and expansion of SCADA and EMS systems, transmission and generation planning, and the construction and operation of generation and transmission networks.

During his time at the Ministry, he was responsible for energy planning, policy and strategy development, energy legislation, security of supply, electricity and natural gas market reforms, as well as renewable energy and climate change.

He retired in 2010 from his position as General Manager of the General Directorate of Energy Affairs within the Ministry. Since then, he has been working as an independent energy consultant.

Since 2012, he has been engaged as a consultant for the World Bank, contributing to market reform, restructuring, and renewable energy integration projects in Türkiye and several other countries. He also served as a member of the Technical Advisory Group of the World Bank’s ESMAP program between 2018 and 2019.