Peter Heilker was born in Mülheim, Germany. He studied Theatre, Modern German Literature and Psycholinguistics in Munich and worked at the Munich Biennale for New Musical Theatre from 1994. From 1998 to 2008 he worked as a dramaturge, and as head dramaturge from the 2006/07 season, at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He taught directing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich and worked as a production dramaturge in collaboration with Jürgen Rose and Christof Loy at the Glyndebourne Festival, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein and the Bavarian State Opera, among others.

From 2008 to 2021, Heilker was opera director at the Theater St. Gallen where he oversaw a wide-ranging programme of musical theatre encompassing opera, operetta, musicals and dance. His programmes focused particularly on rarely performed works of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as world premieres and first performances. The directors he engaged included Tobias Kratzer, David Alden, Lydia Steier and Vera Nemirova.