Owen Van Natta is settling into a new gig, this time at Zynga. The former chief executive of MySpace and chief operating officer of Facebook has spent the past few months in advisory rolls for various startups and projects of interest, including game platform Zynga.

Zynga is the company behind heavy-hitting social games FarmVille and Mafia Wars, and has brought Van Natta on for an official position as executive vice president of business operations, reporting to Mark Pincus. And the timing is ripe for Van Natta, as Zynga saw a healthy-sized investment from Google, making it another notch in his belt of high-profile executive positions.

A veteran in social networks, Van Natta will offer a perspective for the gaming company, as it’s leveraged such networks for its own massive growth and success. Van Natta will also be joining Zynga’s board of directors, reports AllThingsD.  As Zynga positions itself as a leader in the social gaming movement, it will be necessary for the entire team to have a clear understanding of how a gaming platform fits into the big picture.  John Furrier comments,

This is about Mark Pincus creating an inner circle of trusted management to ensure Mark always has control of his company as he takes it public.  His appointment to the Board is an indication that Mark is bringing in Owen Van Natta into the inner circle and that deal making is a priority and critical.  Owen Van Natta has a reputation as being a hard charging and opinionated exec which is a fit for Mark and Zynga’s culture.  Although I don’t know Owen, it seems like it’s a good move.