Twitter vice president of international operations Shailesh Rao is leaving the company after over four years at the firm.

Rao revealed in a tweet that he was leaving Twitter at the end of the month and it was “time for new challenges”.

He added he “couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve built across Asia, Latin America and emerging markets”.

After 4+ yrs growing the Intl business at @twitter, it’s time for new challenges. Around through July, then off to plot the next chapter!

— Shailesh Rao (@shaileshrao) July 4, 2016

A spokeswoman for Twitter said: “We thank Shailesh for his contributions and leadership over the past four years. He built up our international business across Asia Pacific, Latin America and Emerging Markets into our fastest-growing user and revenue region today.

“He has hired and developed strong local teams across these markets, as well as opened dozens of offices worldwide, to serve our users, partners and advertisers. We wish him all the best and we will continue to hire and invest in the high-growth Asia Pacific region.”

Twitter has not yet announced a replacement for Rao, but in one of his tweets Rao said he was “leaving the business in great hands”.

It is understood he is leaving to take a break in order to spend more time with his family.

Rao joined Twitter from Google in February 2012. He held a number of high profile roles during a decade long spell at Google, including Asia Pacific vice president of media, mobile and platforms.

Prior to that his roles included managing director of Google India and director of Google’s local search.

Rao has a long-standing history at internet firms and early on his career he was a senior analyst at America Online (AOL) between 1999 and 2000.