Kent Walker, Google vice president and general counsel, testifies during a U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee hearing looking into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections via the use of social media, on Nov. 1, 2017. Photo Credit: Diego Radzinschi/ALM Google's general counsel is stepping up to a new position at the search giant, leaving a high-profile job opening in his wake. The Mountain View, California-based company confirmed Monday that Kent Walker has been promoted from senior vice president and general counsel to senior vice president of global affairs. In the position, according to a CNBC report, he'll oversee the company's legal, policy, trust and safety and corporate philanthropy teams. The announcement comes as Google continues to reckon with several high-profile challenges, including this month's $5 billion antitrust penalty , compliments of the European Commission. Google is appealing the massive fine, which was levied against the company for allegedly violating antitrust laws with its Android phone system. Last year, Walker stood alongside counsel for Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc., whose general counsel announced recently that he was leaving the company at the end of the year, during congressional hearings over Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Google was “deeply concerned,” Walker said at the time. He also told lawmakers that the company was “founded with the mission of organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful.” Walker isn't the first big name Silicon Valley general counsel to take a broader and more business-facing role in recent years. His counterpart at Microsoft Corp., Brad Smith, was similarly promoted from general counsel to president and CLO in 2015.