After graduating, he taught architecture at
Syiah Kuala University, and became department head between 2004 and 2006 until he resigned to take part in politics as he was elected the provincial chairman of the
Democratic Party. Aside from lecturing, Iriansyah also formed an architecture consultancy to supplement his low salary. Following the
2009 election, Iriansyah was elected as a member of the
People's Representative Council as a member of the
Democratic Party, representing Aceh's 1st electoral district. He ran as
Muhammad Nazar's running mate in the
2012 Acehnese gubernatorial election, but was not elected. Iriansyah ran again as
Irwandi Yusuf's running mate in the
2017 Aceh gubernatorial election and was elected, becoming vice governor on 5 July 2017. As Irwandi Yusuf was involved in a corruption case, he was removed from office and Nova was made acting governor on 9 July 2018. He was formally elevated to governor on 5 November 2020. ==Notes and references==