Lyles was part of the Chinese national swimming set-up between 2009 and 2012 and was most recently head coach of the Shanghai Swimming team.

As new role as national head coach, he will be based in Auckland.

The move comes after New Zealand failed to secure a single swimming medal at the London 2012 Olympics - leading to Swimming New Zealand to replace their entire Board, chief executive and high performance director.

Australian Bill Sweetenham, the former performance director of British Swimming, had been filling the role on an interim basis. 

"David has a good reputation in Britain and has been part of two successful systems," said high performance Sport New Zealand chief executive and two-time Olympic swimming champion Alex Baumann.

"His CV is impressive and other countries were trying to secure him.

"Having coached Olympic medallists I think he'll bring an amount of credibility and a person that can drive the programme forward.

Lyles, who travelled to the Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004 Olympics as part of the British coaching staff, says he is looking forward to a new challenge.

"New Zealand offers me a fresh challenge and a big opportunity," said Lyles, head coach at the University of Bath between 1997 and 2005.

"I visited for a week in March and am just waiting on immigration papers to be completed before I can fly over.

"I'm looking forward to getting started.

"I think there are a lot of very positive things happening and I want to be part of it."

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