From 1985 to 1991, Hierlemann studied chemistry at the University of Tübingen, Germany. He received a PhD from the University of Tübingen in 1996 for his work on Mass-sensitive detection of organic volatiles using modified polysiloxanes. 1997–98 he held postdoctoral positions at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, USA, and at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. From 1999 to 2004 he was research team leader at the Physical Electronics Laboratory in the Department of Physics of ETH Zürich, Switzerland, becoming associate professor for microsensors in 2004. In 2008 he was named full professor of Biosystems Engineering, Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering of ETH Zurich in Basel, Switzerland.