Paradigm Mortgage Services has announced the appointment of a new senior relationship manager.

Sarah Blackwood joins the mortgage services proposition with immediate effect and will cover Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North East of England in her new role.

She has almost 20 years’ experience working in financial services, most recently at Santander where she was a business development manager. She has also worked for a number of advisory practices in team manager, case manager and sales support roles.

Blackwood (pictured) will help build relationships with existing firms in those regions and help Paradigm members grow and develop their businesses. She will also help recruit new firms to Paradigm’s directly authorised (DA) proposition.

As with Paradigm’s other senior relationship managers, Blackwood will report to director of membership, Richard Goppy.

Goppy said: “As always at Paradigm we look to bring in highly-experienced individuals who fully understand the intermediary market and can offer a wide range of support to member firms within the regions they cover. Sarah certainly fits the bill here and has a wealth of experience and knowledge working with, and on behalf of, advisers.

“We’re delighted to have her join the team and our member firms are going to feel the benefit as she works with them to ensure they get the most out of the market opportunities that Paradigm can offer.”

Blackwood added: “Paradigm has forged a considerable reputation for the strength of its proposition and the range of support it provides to intermediaries, so I’m very pleased to be joining the business dealing directly with member firms.

“I’m looking forward to working with both existing and new contacts within these regions to demonstrate where we can add further value, as they seek to secure the most from their membership. There are a whole host of opportunities to be explored and I can’t wait to get out into the field to share everything Paradigm can offer.”