Aron Pilhofer is giving up overseeing the New York Times digital operation of 40 people for a freshly created post at Britain’s Guardian News & Media Group.

As executive editor of digital, Pilhofer’s responsibilities include The Guardian and guardian.com.

Janine Gibson, editor of the Guardian US launch, called Pilhofer a “visionary editor” who understands the future of digital journalism.

The Guardian’s site cracked the 100M monthly unique visitor mark in April.

Pilhofer will work in New York for a few weeks before shipping out to the UK. He will develop digital initiatives help build worldwide readership.

Gibson also is returning to London this summer to assume the editor-in-chief slot of guardian.com.

Alan Rusbridger is Guardian editor-in-chief.