Facebook has appointed Adam Mosseri as the new head of Instagram, the photo-sharing app owned by it. Adam Mosseri was previously Vice-President, Product, at Facebook.

Mosseri replaces Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger who announced their departure in September.

“We are thrilled to hand over the reins to a product leader with a strong design background and a focus on craft and simplicity, as well as a deep understanding of the importance of community,” Systrom and Krieger wrote in a blog post late Monday.

Having started his career as a designer, Mosseri went on to manage his own design consultancy before joining Facebook’s design team in 2008. He later moved to product management, working on Facebook Mobile and then News Feed.

In his new role, Mosseri will oversee all functions of the business and recruit a new executive team, including a head of engineering, head of product and head of operations.

In a Facebook post, Mosseri said: “Last week, @kevin and @mikeyk announced that they’re leaving Instagram. The impact of their work over the past eight years has been incredible. They built a product people love that brings joy and connection to so many lives. I’m humbled and excited about the opportunity to now lead the Instagram team. I want to thank them for trusting me to carry forward the values that they have established. I will do my best to make them, the team, and the Instagram community proud.”

“We remain excited for the future of Instagram in the coming years as we transition from being leaders at Instagram to being just two users in a billion. We’re confident that under Adam’s leadership, Instagram will evolve and improve and we look forward to the future of the product and community,” the co-founders said in the post.

Founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2010, Instagram was bought by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.

“We’ve grown from 13 people to over a thousand with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over one billion. We’re now ready for our next chapter,” the co-founders had said in an earlier post after announcing their departure.

“We’re planning on leaving Instagram to explore our curiosity and creativity again. Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do,” they had said, adding: “We remain excited for the future of Instagram and Facebook in the coming years as we transition from leaders to two users in a billion. We look forward to watching what these innovative and extraordinary companies do next.”