Former Yahoo executive Jeff Weiner, now executive in residence at Accel Partners and LinkedIn investor Greylock Partners, is also joining the business-oriented social network as interim president to oversee day-to-day operations.
Nye will depart in January after almost two years at the company, during which time its network grew from eight to 33 million members, achieved profitability and raised about $80m from investors.
Hoffman, who returns to the chief executive position he held for almost four years after founding LinkedIn in 2003, said Nye had transformed LinkedIn "from a young start-up to a high growth business".
"Dan deserves tremendous credit for his contributions to LinkedIn. His passion and commitment will continue in the efforts of the team that he's helped build here," he said.
In November, the company axed 36 positions, understood to be a pre-emptive move ahead of the expected global economic downturn.
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