He served as the Director of General Department, SETC from 1996 to 2003, and was Deputy Secretary of SASAC from 2003 to 2008. From 2004 to 2007, he was vice governor of Qinghai, a province located in northwest China. He served as the Director of China NBS from 2008 to 2014.[2]
Ma was elected to the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party as an alternate member in November 2012. Ma was ranked first out of 168 alternate members in a list ordered by the number of votes received at the party congress. Ma was made a full member of the committee at the 3rd Plenum of the 18th Central committee in 2014 to replace a vacant seat.[3]