THE HEAD OF Google’s Dublin HQ has announced he is stepping down after a decade at the company.

John Herlihy has said is he leaving the company to “explore new opportunities”, and will be succeeded by a current sales vice-president.

Since he joined the tech giant in 2005, the company’s workforce in Dublin has grown from 50 to 2,500.

Herlihy also saw Google move into its current home on Barrow Street, and helped set up The Foundry digital excellence centre.

“We have built a vibrant organisation which has become the heartbeat of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) area. The energy that runs through this campus powers a burgeoning digital industry in over 100 countries and is helping revitalise economies, Ireland’s included,” he said in a statement.

Ronan Harris, currently the vice-president for sales in the EMEA, will be stepping into the hotseat.

“I have worked closely with John for many years and all of us at Google in Dublin value greatly the contribution he has made to Google and to Ireland’s reputation as the digital capital of Europe,” he said.

Read: Google has explained why it pulled the plug (for now) on Google Glass >