Renault has signed former Mercedes engineer Matthew Harman as deputy chief designer.
Harman worked with Mercedes as head of powertrain integration, working closely with both the power unit and chassis sides of the world championship-winning team.
Renault is looking to build its works team into championship contender by 2020 and Renault Sport Racing managing director Cyril Abiteboul believes Harman will help strengthen his team under chief technical officer Bob Bell.
"Over the past three years Bob Bell has been leading the charge for the team to reinforce its technical line-up," Abiteboul said.
"We are delighted to have attracted someone of Matthew's calibre to enable the team to anticipate on the design cycle of future cars, a crucial benefit, something we are currently missing since the team's acquisition and that will become even more important with the upcoming changes planned for 2021."
Harman will work alongside chief designer Martin Tolliday on the design of future Renault F1 cars.