The CCP committee secretary is the highest ranking post in the region, and also ex officio leads the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC).

The current secretary is Ma Xingrui, a member of the CCP Politburo, who succeeded Chen Quanguo on 25 December 2021.

In November 1949, during the incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China at the end of the Chinese Civil War, the CCP Central Committee approved the establishment of the Xinjiang Branch of the CCP Central Committee.

The Regional Committee Secretary is ex officio the first-ranking political commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

The Chairman of the XUAR People's Government usually serves as the CCP Deputy Committee Secretary.