Starting in the new post this week the former Evening Times picture editor will lead a team responsible for all 'non-text products' including photographs, videos and podcasts across the Herald's three newspaper titles.
"We felt John was the man for the job because of his sense of future and innovation, his understanding of what is possible, and most importantly his balance of vision," Tom Thomson, group managing editor, told Journalism.co.uk.
"We hope he will build on the foundations we have made to use multimedia in all its forms to enhance the websites as they develop."
Part of the new role will see him oversee the gathering and organisation of the user-generated content submitted to the Herald Group's series of community websites. The group currently has 24 ultra-local websites up and running, a further 12 will be launched next Monday.
The community sites were providing another strong source of multimedia, Young said, as users were voluntarily uploading their own pictures, videos and stories every day.
"It is a very strong group and what we are doing evidently works," he told Journalism.co.uk.
"The Sunday Herald won Newspaper of the Year at the British Picture Awards and the Herald and the Evening Times are doing brilliantly too.
"What we would like to do is bring the strengths of the winning products to all areas of the group."
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