He was born in Çanakkale in 1970. He graduated from Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Labor Economics and Industrial Relations in 1992. He completed his master's and doctoral studies at Dokuz Eylül University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Labor Economics and Industrial Relations.

He started his career as a lecturer at Yüzüncü Yıl University in 1995, and had been an assistant professor at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Biga Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences since 2001. He served as Istanbul Provincial Director of the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology in 2014, as head of department at the Ministry of Labor and Social Security in 2016, and as deputy general manager in 2018. He currently continues to serve as Deputy General Manager at the Directorate  General of International Labor Force.

Mahir Gümüş, who has various studies on working life and migration issues, is married and the father of two children.