Maya Ibuki is a First Lieutenant at NERV and one of the three primary computer technicians stationed at the organization's headquarters, working alongside Makoto Hyuga and Shigeru Aoba. She serves directly under Dr. Ritsuko Akagi and frequently acts as her assistant, particularly in tasks involving the Magi supercomputers and data readouts from the Evangelion units. During Angel attacks, Maya operates a control station on the command center bridge, monitoring the Evangelion pilots' synchronization ratios and relaying emergency commands as ordered by Misato Katsuragi or Gendo Ikari.

Maya is an optimistic, cheerful, and caring young woman with a sensitive and trusting nature. She is easily affected by violence, often hiding her eyes or becoming nauseated during intense battles. In the film The End of Evangelion, she is the only NERV officer shown refusing to fight back against invading JSSDF soldiers, stating that she does not have the nerve to kill another human being. This revulsion extends to her professional work, as she expresses misgivings about dangerous technologies like the Dummy Plug system. Her gentle demeanor and tendency to react viscerally to on-screen violence have led some to view her as a stand-in for the audience's perspective.

Maya holds a deep admiration for technological progress, viewing it as the force that saved civilization after Second Impact. She speaks enthusiastically about Tokyo-3 as a city of science where science reigns supreme, though her colleague Aoba dismisses this as an old-fashioned line. She also admires the coolness of commanders Gendo and Fuyutsuki under pressure. Her personality is marked by girlish affectations, such as a rabbit-face sticker on her laptop screen and a pink cat pillow she uses at her station to compensate for her short stature. She is seen reading what appears to be a romance novel during quiet moments.

Her key relationship is with Ritsuko Akagi, whom she always addresses as "senpai" (a term for a senior colleague). Maya works closely with Ritsuko and shows unwavering loyalty. During the Instrumentality sequence in The End of Evangelion, Maya is guided by a vision of Ritsuko who types "I need you" on her laptop and embraces her, prompting Maya to cry out "Senpai!" with an expression of ecstasy before dissolving into LCL. This scene has been widely interpreted as revealing that Maya harbors romantic feelings for Ritsuko, though the series never explicitly confirms this. Maya also appears uncomfortable when Ryoji Kaji flirts with her, which some fans take as further evidence of her sexuality. Her relationships with the other bridge crew are professional and friendly, and she is supportive toward the young Eva pilots, though she does not appear to know the full extent of NERV's hidden agenda regarding Human Instrumentality.

In terms of development, Maya remains a consistent character throughout the original series, serving as a steady, empathetic presence amid the escalating psychological turmoil. Her refusal to participate in violence during the JSSDF attack marks a quiet but powerful moral stand. In the Rebuild of Evangelion film series, Maya reprises her role but her relationship with Ritsuko becomes more distant; by Evangelion 3.0 she complains about not being able to stand younger men, though it is unclear whether this reflects a change in her personality or simply growing older and more short-tempered over the fourteen-year timeskip.

Maya's notable abilities lie in her technical expertise with NERV's computer systems, particularly the Magi and Evangelion data feeds. She is skilled at interpreting real-time combat data and coordinating support. Outside of work, she enjoys music and is shown playing piano. Her character is named after two warships, the canceled aircraft carrier Ibuki and the heavy cruiser Maya. She is 24 years old, with a birthday of July 11, and has short brown hair and brown eyes.