Senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan has been selected by Google (GOOGL, Financials) as their new Chief Technologist. Having supervised important products like Search, Ads, Assistant, Geo, Commerce, and Payments, Raghavan will move into his new position after over 12 years with the companyfirm.

CEO Sundar Pichai, in a blog post on Thursday, revealed the leadership transition, saying Raghavan will be working closely with him in this new position. Long-time Google employee Nick Fox, a Raghavan's leadership team member, will take up Raghavan's old duties directing Google's Knowledge and Information teams. These include items in Search, Ads, Geo, and Commerce domains.

Before joining Google, Raghavan managed the design of ad markets and search and ad ranking at Yahoo! Labs.

For Google, this change in leadership is crucial as the business is under more and more examination in the U.S. and the European Union. Antitrust actions in many countries claim that Google's operational independence and business strategy are seriously challenged by unfair activities in which it participates in web search and online advertising marketplaces.