He started working in 1989 as a senior engineer in the Trade Department of the Poltava City Executive Committee.

He worked as the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Ensuring the Activities of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and People's Deputies of Ukraine of the Committee on the Rules of Procedure, Deputy Ethics and Ensuring the Activities of the Verkhovna Rada.

On 26 December 2014, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed Holovko as the 10th Governor of Poltava Oblast by Decree No.

[2][3] On 12 March 2019, President Poroshenko initiated the dismissal of Holovko from the post of the Governor due to suspicions of involvement in many corruption schemes, which probably led to significant losses to the State Budget of Ukraine.

[4] The National Anti-Corruption Bureau has opened a series of criminal proceedings on suspicion of committing particularly serious crimes by Holovko, his first deputy, and his other associates.