Esma Dilek graduated from Yıldız Technical University Computer Engineering Department in 2003. After working as a Software Engineer in the private sector for approximately 1.5 years, she started to work as a Computer Engineer in the Traffic Directorate of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) in 2006.

Within the scope of the project initiated by IMM, she received an opportunity to have a master's degree in the USA. She completed her master's degree in Computer Science at Boston University in 2010 and continued her work as a Software Development Specialist at the IMM Traffic Directorate.

She took part in many projects at IMM's Traffic Control Center (TCC) as an Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) application developer for desktop, internet and mobile platforms. As the Deputy Director, she served as the technical and administrative officer of IMM's ITS components, systems and software in the field and in the center, managed from TCC.

She worked as the Project Manager of the VITAL and R4E (Roadmaps for Energy) Projects, for which IMM was entitled to receive grants within the scope of the 7th Framework and Horizon 2020 programs of the European Union.

Dilek, who worked as IMM's Information Technologies Manager and Smart City Manager between August 2018 - April 2020, has been working as the Deputy Director General of Communications at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure since April 2020. She is also volunteering as the President of ITS Türkiye since April 2021 and has a good command of English.

Dilek pursues her doctoral studies at Gazi University Department of Information Security Engineering. She has papers published in many national and international transportation congresses on the effects of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and mega projects implemented in Istanbul to Istanbul's transportation. Her research interests include ITS, computer vision, deep learning and information security. She has several published papers on peer-reviewed journals on these topics.