THE WESTERN Bulldogs have a new head of recruiting, announcing former player Sam Power as the club's general manager of list and recruiting.

Power, who played 84 games for the club between 2002 and 2007 (as well as a further 39 for North Melbourne), will start in the newly created role next month.

His responsibilities will include overseeing the club's list management strategy, total player payment management and compliance, player contracts, and acquisition and recruiting of new players.

The new position for the Bulldogs will see current recruiting manager Simon Dalrymple report to Power. 

Club CEO Ameet Bains forecast the appointment and structural change to AFL.com.au on Tuesday.

"There's no immediate personnel changes; it's essentially just changing the structure to have this role elevated to oversee the entire list management and recruiting department, then appoint a person for it," Bains said. 

"I think for most clubs, the structure has a single point of responsibility across the list management function, which makes decision-making about player acquisition and player retention more efficient and effective. 

"The structure we've moved to is the structure that's at pretty much every club."

Power has spent the last four years at Carlton, where he has worked in various areas. His most recent role covered several fields: integrity officer, company secretary and scouting. 

Bulldogs director of football Chris Grant, who oversaw the process to appoint Power, said he was looking forward to seeing the impact his former teammate could have on the "important position". 

"Sam brings a wealth of knowledge and a diverse skill set in a number of important areas which we see as crucial to the success of our list management and recruiting," Grant told westernbulldogs.com.au. 

"As we continue to aspire to be ahead of the game within all areas of our business, Sam's background in football, his knowledge of football department practices and experience in the corporate world made him an ideal candidate." 

Power's appointment continues a shake-up for the 2016 premiers, who appointed ex-Saint Bains as CEO in late October. 

Former list manager Jason McCartney moved from Whitten Oval to take up the same role at GWS last month - he replaced Craig Cameron, who is now at Gold Coast.