Walmart has hired former Amazon exec Suresh Kumar into a newly elevated role of chief technology and chief development officer, as the big-box retailer aims to compete more with Amazon, Google and other tech giants.

Walmart announced in a blog post and in a memo sent by CEO Doug McMillon to employees Tuesday that Kumar is joining the company July 8 and will report directly to him.

Kumar has most recently been working at Google, where until his transition in July he serves as vice president and general manager of display, video, app ads and analytics. Previously, he was corporate vice president of Microsoft's cloud infrastructure and operations. Before Microsoft, he spent 15 years at Amazon in several roles, including vice president of technology for retail systems and operations and head of Amazon's retail supply chain and inventory management systems.

"Walmart is one of the great success stories in how a company evolves over time to serve the changing needs of its customers, and today, it is in the midst of a very exciting digital transformation," Kumar said in a statement. "With more than 11,000 stores ... the potential for technology to help people at scale is unparalleled, and I am excited to be part of this."

The announcement comes after Walmart recently lost its CTO Jeremy King to Pinterest.

While Kumar will assume all of King's previous responsibilities, like heading up Walmart Labs, he isn't filling King's void exactly. Kumar's new role will encompass much more than that. King was reporting to Walmart's head of e-commerce in the U.S., Marc Lore, while Kumar will now sit directly on McMillon's leadership team. Kumar will also oversee technology at Sam's Club and internationally, and will lead Walmart's Global Business Services division.

Walmart is still looking to fill King's role, a spokeswoman said, while Fiona Tan, senior vice president of customer technology, has stepped into an "elevated role" to cover some of his duties.

King was known for playing an important role in helping Walmart bill itself as more of a tech company, something the retailer has been trying to do. He was behind initiatives including Walmart's addition of virtual-reality headsets and machine-learning-powered robots at stores. He was also helping Lore grow online sales, which surged 37% during the most recent quarter.

Here's the email Doug McMillon sent employees, regarding Kumar's hire: