TOKYO — In a sign of the rising export ambitions of the Chinese mobile phone industry, a smartphone maker called Xiaomi said on Thursday that it had hired a top executive away from Google to lead its international expansion plans.

The executive, Hugo Barra, is one of the most prominent Westerners to join a Chinese technology company, analysts said. At Google, he has served as the vice president overseeing the product team for Google’s Android mobile operating system, which is used by the vast majority of smartphones in China.

“He’s a significant figure in the industry, a significant figure at Google,” said Pete Cunningham, an analyst at Canalys, a research firm. “It underlines the trend we’re seeing in the market. The Chinese vendors are going to play a big part in shaping the future of the industry.”

Xiaomi is one of a number of Chinese smartphone makers that have been gaining market share in China against foreign rivals like Apple and Nokia. Until recently, these Chinese companies seemed happy with their rising sales in China, the biggest smartphone market, but now companies like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei seem intent on expanding internationally.