He had held the role of vice-president of people since December 2010.
Langhorn has also been UK HR director and head of talent and education at the fast food giant.
He joined McDonald’s UK in 1984 as a crew member and has held a number of roles in operations, franchising and HR.
His new role will task him with aligning the people strategies of five other European markets: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Ireland.
Langhorn said: “Our people are an absolute priority at McDonald’s and they are at the heart of our business.
“It is important to us that they get the opportunity to fulfil their potential, to gain the valuable skills required not just to do their jobs with us, but to successfully develop their careers for the future.
“This new role is an opportunity not only to continue with the development and execution of our people strategy in the UK, but also to learn, share insight and scale innovative programmes between markets.”