Online mortgage broker Mojo Mortgages has announced the appointment of Cassie Stephenson as its new director of mortgages as the business looks to scale its team to 50 mortgage advisers across the UK over the next 12 months.

The business, which has expanded its team over the course of the pandemic, says it has experienced unprecedented demand over the past few months – driven by the need for a digital-focused service as well as a booming property market, with the ongoing Stamp Duty holiday playing a part.

Mojo, which now counts the likes of Uswitch, Zoopla and Snoop as digital partners, has seen year-on-year partner mortgage submissions rise by 165% compared to pre-pandemic levels, with traffic and enquiries to its site also up by 200% compared to the start of 2020.

Stephenson (pictured) joins Mojo following her time at fellow online broker Habito as VP Operations, as well as previous spells at Atom Bank, Tesco Bank and Lloyds, and will play an instrumental role in helping to scale the broker over the coming months as society returns to some normality.

Stephenson said: “I am delighted to be joining the team at Mojo as the business enters its next stage of growth. It’s no secret that the past year has been challenging but the market appears to be gaining some real momentum with new government-backed schemes, competitive rates amongst lenders and a bustling property market, so it’s an exciting time to join the team.

“Mojo already has such strong foundations, systems and amazing people – it’s now time to take what we have and accelerate it to make us the number one brokerage in the UK.

“No one has really perfected the end-to-end process for customers yet and there is still some important work to do in this area. I also feel open banking hasn’t been utilised as much as it could be, with practices such as paper document requests still in place which feel so outdated. There is more work to do with lenders to allow automated submissions and execution-only experiences and this is one area I’ll be working on closely in the coming months. It’s certainly an exciting space to be in at the moment.”

Richard Hayes, CEO and co-founder of Mojo Mortgages, added: “Cassie’s appointment will play a pivotal role in the future of Mojo as we continue to revolutionise the way consumers access mortgages, advice and information to an industry that still continues to baffle many people.

“We want to help customers to fully understand the process and become more financially confident by empowering them to learn more about mortgages and, of course, find the best deal for them. Not only for those that come to us, but across the wider industry.

“However, we do need more talented individuals to join us. We’re going through a hyper growth phase, so that means we need even more driven, proven mortgage experts to get on board. We have a number of fully remote roles available with further details on our website.”