He studied mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology and started his career at Clayton & Shuttleworth. Pitzinger joined the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1886. He spent much of his career at the naval arsenal in Pula. He had significant design responsibilities for the Erzherzog Karl-class battleships and the Radetzky-class battleships. He led the design of the Ersatz Monarch-class battleships which were cancelled when World War I broke out in 1914. In 1914 he was promoted to Naval Constructor General. His naval career ended in 1918 with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire.