The former deputy chief executive of The Australian newspaper, Nick Leeder, will take the helm of Google's local operations in late March.

He will replace Karim Temsamini, who was promoted a few months ago to run Google's mobile ad sales business in the US.

Mr Leeder has been in the media industry for several years, with both News Ltd, owner of The Australian, and Fairfax.

Together with The Australian's CEO Richard Freudenstein, he has been leading the charge into the paid content world, including launching the first local newspaper app on the Apple iPad.

As Google managing director he will oversee the search giant's sales and business development operations.