Nigel Richardson is to be the council's new director of children's services.
Mr Richardson will join Leeds from Hull City Council where he is currently director of children and young people’s services and assistant chief executive.
He has been at Hull since 2005 and joined the authority when the government had intervened in services there.
Nigel played a big part in improving services for children and young people in Hull and helped deliver rapid improvements within just 18 months.
Earlier this year Hull was recognised as the most improved council in the country with an LGC award.
A major part of the turnaround was the contribution made by the improvements in children's services led by Nigel.
Before Hull, Nigel was at North Lincolnshire in a variety of roles within the social care sector. From 2001-2002 he worked with Lord Laming on the Victoria Climbie inquiry.