Hill joins the organisation from English Premier League football club Manchester United, where he served as global head of partnerships and operations.

He has also worked as marketing manager for the Rugby Football Union from 2005 to 2008 and was commercial director of English rugby team Saracens from 1998 to 2002.

Hill takes over from predecessor Murray Barnett, who joined Formula One as head of global sponsorships and commercial partnerships earlier this year.

The new chief commercial officer will officially begin his role at the end of September 2017, World Rugby has confirmed.

He will be responsible for driving forward World Rugby’s commercial, broadcast and marketing strategies.

"I am delighted to be joining the experienced team at World Rugby," said Hill. 

"It is a sport that I am very passionate about and have grown up with, both playing and latterly coaching. 

"I am excited about the depth and breadth of commercial opportunities for the sport, which will ultimately underpin accelerated global growth.

"The overwhelmingly positive reaction of sports fans and non-sports fans to rugby sevens’ debut at the Rio Olympic Games, especially among younger audiences in new markets and the explosive participation and interest growth in women’s rugby, is very exciting when considering the future commercial strategy."

World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper claimed Hill has an "exceptional track record" which was "perfectly suited to World Rugby’s strategic mission to grow the global game through expanding and strengthening our commercial footprint, unlocking partner opportunities in new markets and inspiring new audiences through fan-first innovative broadcast and digital channels".

"Tom joins a strong and dynamic management team at a time of exceptional global growth, Rugby World Cup going from strength to strength with a record Worldwide Partner programme for the first tournament in Asia in 2019 and strong candidates for 2023, the growth of rugby sevens as an Olympic sport and more fans than ever before engaging with us and the sport through social media," Gosper added.