Heinrich Sequenz, for many years the managing director of the Wilhelm Exner Foundation, studied mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology after returning from captivity in Siberia in 1920. Some time later he habilitated in Vienna, then earned a second doctorate in engineering at the Technical University of Karlsruhe, followed by a third doctorate in 1938 at the University of Vienna. From 1932 Sequenz taught mechanical engineering as a private lecturer at the Technical University of Vienna.
Negotiations about an appointment to the Technical University of Munich fell through in 1935, and he also turned down an appointment to Graz. In 1937 he became a full professor of electrical engineering at the Technical University of Stuttgart, and in 1939 at the Technical University of Vienna. Between 1939 and 1940 Sequenz was conscripted into the German Air Force. He then resumed his teaching activities at the TH Vienna.