She graduated from the Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Mathematics and Physic. After the graduation she started working as actuary for the Ministry of Finance, and since 1999 as a Head of Department of the Insurance Supervision. From November 2000 she worked in the Financial Market Authority as the Director of the Insurance Department and after adoption of the new Act on Supervision of the Financial Market in May 2002, the Government of the Slovak Republic appointed Mrs. Julia Cillikova a General Director of the Financial Market Authority. After merge of the Financial Market Authority and the National Bank of Slovakia in January 2006, she was Executive Director for supervision and oversight of insurance and capital market, from 2010 Director of regulatory and macro-prudential risk assessment department. In 2017 - 2019 she was the Executive Director of the Regulation and Consumer Protection Unit.

Since 2020 she serves as Executive Director of Unit responsible for departments of Consumer Protection, Financial Innovations and Insurance and Pension Regulation and Supervision where she is also responsible for the project of financial education “5 Peňazí”.

She represents the National Bank of Slovakia (as a Member of the BoS) in EIOPA and also, the Insurance and Private Pension Committee and the Financial Market Committee of the OECD. From 2021, she has been the Chairman of the Working Party on Private Pensions & WPPP Bureau in OECD and since 2022 she has also become a representative member of the Slovak Republic in OECD International Network on Financial Education.

She also actively participates on the working committees in the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS). Last but not least she is also a Chairman of the IAIS working forum – Retirement Income and Pension Forum.