From July to August 1996, he was a handyman of the collective agricultural enterprise named after Gorky, Reshetylivka village, Poltava Oblast.
From September 1997 to June 2002 he was a student of Poltava State Pedagogical University named after VG Korolenko.
From July 2011 to April 2014 he worked as a procurement manager for Kernel-Trade Limited Liability Company in Poltava.
In 2017 he graduated from the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine with a master's degree in social development management.
On 15 March 2019, Tovstyi was appointed the acting Governor of Poltava Oblast by President Petro Poroshenko.