Tony Fenner-Leitão, chief executive of Winton Capital Group, Europe's fourth-largest hedge fund by assets under management, has resigned and will be replaced in the role by the firm's founder and executive chairman David Harding, the company said Friday.

Fenner-Leitão, a former executive director at Goldman Sachs, joined Winton Capital in 2008, becoming deputy to Anthony Daniell in 2012 before succeeding him as chief executive in early January last year.