He then entered the Bahrul Ulum pesantren in Jombang, before studying Tarbiyah (education) at Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University Malang.

[1] He later participated in the city's mayoral election in 2013 as the running mate of Mochammad Anton, winning with 47.33% of the votes.

The other two candidates, including the incumbent Anton, were under custody of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and Sutiaji won with 44.5% of the votes.

[6][7] Due to the incumbent being arrested, Sutiaji became acting mayor once he returned from his electoral leave starting from 23 June 2018.

[11] After being sworn in, in December 2018 he issued an internal memo to city officials prohibiting businesses from forcing employees to wear Christmas-themed clothing and for Christmas festivities to be monitored so to not be "annoying".