alex maccaullumThe New York Times has tapped Alex MacCallum for the new post of assistant managing editor in charge of audience building and "deepening" engagement between readers and the paper.

The 33-year-old MacCallum is shifting from the business side of the paper, where she was working on a cooking app.

In a memo to staffers, Dean Baquet, executive editor, and Andy Rosenthal, editorial page editor, wrote MacCallum would "build a team devoted to using search, social and other strategies to draw more people to the Times’ news articles and editorials."

She began her career as a researcher/freelancer at the Washington Post and was one of the first hires at The Huffington Post, where she served as founding news editor and exited as corporate counsel.

MacCallum reports to Baquet and Rosenthal. They promise more changes are in the offing for the newsroom’s masthead, and this is a big step toward bringing in more editors with deep digital experience.