[2] Maamaatuaiahutapu was educated in Bordeaux, graduating with a diploma of advanced studies in anthropology,[3] then returned to French Polynesia where he worked as a civil servant and then at the Polynesian Center for Human Sciences and Musée de Tahiti et des Îles.

[1] In September 2014 he was appointed as Minister of Language Promotion, Culture, Communication and the Environment in the government of Édouard Fritch.

[5] In the intervening period his portfolios were managed by Minister of Education Nicole Sanquer, and he was employed as a technical advisor in her office.

[7] Following the 2018 French Polynesian legislative election in May 2018 he was reappointed as Minister of Culture and the Environment, in charge of Handicrafts.

[8] As environment minister he promoted the listing of the Marquesas Islands as a World Heritage Site[9][10] and a ban on seabed mining.