Hamburg announced on Monday that they had parted company with director of sport Oliver Kreuzer after little more than a year in the role as part of a restructuring of the club.
And they have wasted no time in recruiting Peters, who arrives at the club after an eight-year spell as director of sports and young development at Hoffenheim.
Peters, who will start his new role on August 1, said: "Now it's my goal to give together with Dietmar Beiersdorf (Hamburg chairman) and our employees, HSV their own footballing identity."
Beiersdorf has no doubt Peters was the right man for the job as Hamburg attempt to move on from a poor season in which they only avoided relegation from the Bundesliga by virtue of an away-goals play-off victory over Greuther Furth.
He said: "The obligation of Bernhard Peters to provide an essential part of sports realignment.
"We are very happy that we have managed to get Bernhard Peters, one of the most recognised national and international experts in the topics of soccer structure, concept and talent development for HSV."