Riza Damanik is the Expert Staff of The Minister of Cooperatives and SMEs. Previously from 2018 to 2019 Riza Damanik was the Assistant Coordinator of the Presidential Special Staff. Since 2021 he has served as the Head of the Indonesian Maritime Scholars Association (ISKINDO) and in 2022 he was entrusted as the Head of the Advisory Board of the Indonesian Traditional Fishermen's Association (KNTI).

Riza Damanik pursued his master's degree in Environmental Science at Universitas Gadjah Mada. He then continued his Ph.D education at the School of Humanities, Resource Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia