His father, Abdyr Sagintayev (1921–1986), was a World War II veteran who worked as the director of the Talas Sheep Breeding Plant.

[19] This sparked fury and protests from the mothers who demanded proper housing, more kindergartens and financial support for families owning more than one child.

[20] Sagintayev expressed his condolences to the tragedy and told his cabinet to be stricter in fire safety inspection at homes to prevent incidents.

"[27][28] He ordered the police to conduct an analysis of the criminal situation in the city, to intensify the fight against hooliganism and robbery, and to increase the number of surveillance cameras on the streets.

[30] On 29 August 2019, he proposed planting at least a million new trees in Almaty and planned to actively work with the government and Samruk Energy JSC to reduce emissions from stationary sources.

[33] At the annual briefing of the Central Communications Service held on 7 December 2020, Sagintayev announced that the economic situation in the city had been stabilized.

He insisted that Almaty retains the potential for rapid recovery in the post-epidemic period and that it remains an international center of investment activity.

[46] In October 2020, he warned of a possible second wave of the infections during a live interview on Almaty TV channel, stating that the city was prepared to deal with new cases if necessary.

[47] Following an increase of cases in the Almaty, Sagintayev announced in new restrictions being placed, noting that the city would not go under lockdown unless there would be a daily growth of more than 100–150 infected persons at the hospitals.

[48][49] During the 2022 Kazakh unrest, Sagintayev addressed Almaty residents regarding the situation, in which he claimed that city had been taken under the control by the authorities and urged everyone not to succumb to "provocations and lawlessness" after riots had broken out on the night of 4 January 2022 which resulted in the state of emergency being introduced.

[50] Despite Sagintayev's words, unrest continued getting worse in Almaty, leading to gunfire exchange in the streets, widespread looting of stores and banks, as well as administrative and television station buildings being burned down.

[53] On 8 January 2022, just days after staying out of public eye, Sagintayev made his reappearance at the meeting from where he instructed city officials to start clearing neighbourhoods occupied by the armed militants, as well as normalize the situation with food supply and security.

[55] From there, Sagintayev was criticized for failing to boost morale to the city residents, refusing to go on air with an appeal and staying out of public for days during the riots.

[56] He is an author of a number of scientific works, publications on state regulation of the natural monopolies, small and medium business development.