Ien Cheng, the most senior digital executive at the Financial Times, is leaving the company to join Google.

Cheng, who has worked at the FT for eight years, will become the director of product management for advertising on Google’s European leadership team.

Cheng joined the FT in 2000, working in business and product development, later spending nearly two years as a reporter and then being promoted to publisher of Chinese-language website FTChinese.com.

He moved to London in August 2006 to take up his current role spearheading product launches, digital editorial innovation and the rollout of the FT’s new subscription model.

The Financial Times Group has not yet announced a sucessor to Cheng’s role which covers business, technical and editorial development.

[lnk|http://www.featuresexec.com/publications/info_features.php?pubid=1453=ft.com|_self|FT.com]