Head of Mortgage Strategy

Brokerage & Co; Adelaide; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

Brokerage & Co is seeking a Head of Mortgage Strategy in Australia to lead the lending strategy for high-value clients and to build the mortgage strategy platform. You will directly engage with clients, structure complex deals, and coach Credit Assessors and Brokers to uphold high credit standards.

The role focuses on scalable policy, processes, and resources, ensuring consistent, well-structured advice across the client portfolio, with a strong emphasis on learning and compliance.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in credit assessment or lending strategy within mortgage broking or financial services.
• Experience structuring and resolving complex residential lending scenarios with direct client engagement.
• Experience coaching, training, or leading credit or lending staff.

Responsibilities

• Act as senior point of contact for the most complex, high-value clients; shape lending strategy from assessment to settlement.
• Structure complex lending scenarios and take direct carriage of files for submission and settlement.
• Coach Credit Assessors and Brokers to improve credit knowledge and capability.
• Lead the design and build-out of Brokerage & Co's mortgage strategy platform with policies, processes, tools and resources.

Skills

Credit policy knowledge

Client relationship management

Staff coaching

Lender negotiations

Education

Finance/business degree

Tools

Servicing calculators

Job description

About Brokerage & Co:

Brokerage & Co is a well-established brokerage firm known for its client-first approach, deep market expertise, and strong professional network. We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional outcomes for our clients while fostering a high-performance, collaborative culture for our people.

Purpose of the role:

The Head of Mortgage Strategy is a newly created role, central to Brokerage & Co's next phase of high growth. This is a client-focused, hands-on specialist position responsible for shaping the lending strategy and outcomes for the business's most complex and highest-value clients.

The successful candidate will also build Brokerage & Co's mortgage strategy platform: the policies, processes, resources, and tools that underpin how the business advises and structures lending for clients as it scales. This is not a purely internal or management role as the Head of Mortgage Strategy remains a practising expert and a genuine client-facing point of contact, personally engaging with clients through their most complex or sensitive lending decisions, while coaching Credit Assessors and Brokers so that every client receives the same standard of strategic, well-structured advice.

Through direct client engagement, hands-on file work, platform-building, and coaching, the Head of Mortgage Strategy drives stronger client outcomes, higher first-time-right submission rates, and a culture of continuous learning and strong credit judgement across the business.

Key Responsibilities:

Client Lending Strategy & Complex Deal Structuring:

• Act as the senior point of contact for the business's most complex, high-value or sensitive clients, personally shaping their lending strategy from initial assessment through to settlement.
• Assess and structure complex lending scenarios — including unusual structures, sensitive client circumstances, or significant judgement calls — that require specialist expertise.
• Take direct carriage of complex files from initial assessment through to lender submission and settlement, rather than operating purely in an oversight or coaching capacity.
• Bring judgement and discretion to sensitive scenarios where client circumstances, reputational considerations, or lender relationships require careful handling.

Client Communication & Experience:

• Maintain clear, professional, and high-quality communication with clients throughout the assessment, structuring, and submission process.
• Keep clients well informed at key milestones, managing expectations and reducing uncertainty during complex or longer-running lending scenarios.
• Translate complex credit and policy detail into clear, confidence-building guidance clients can act on.
• Partner with Brokers to ensure consistent messaging and a seamless client experience whenever the Head of Mortgage Strategy is engaged directly.

Mortgage Strategy Platform: Coaching & Training:

• Coach and develop Credit Assessors and Brokers to improve technical credit knowledge and capability.
• Develop Credit Assessors' ability to independently analyse, structure and solve increasingly complex lending scenarios.
• Strengthen Brokers' understanding of lender policy, servicing and credit fundamentals.
• Provide coaching following declines, escalations, excessive lender conditions or difficult applications.
• Run regular credit training sessions using real scenarios and case studies.
• Keep the team informed of relevant lender policy changes and translate these into practical lending opportunities.
• Work closely with Brokers and Credit Assessors to improve communication and reduce unnecessary back-and-forth.
• Promote a culture of continuous learning, accountability and strong credit judgement.
• Lead the design and build-out of Brokerage & Co's mortgage strategy platform including but not limited to the policies, processes, tools and resources that underpin how the business advises and structures lending for clients.
• Develop and maintain internal credit resources, scenario guides and best-practice processes as core components of the platform.
• Establish scalable credit standards and ways of working that support the business as client volume and complexity grow.

Strategic Guidance, Escalation & Quality Assurance:

• Provide guidance on complex lending scenarios, policy interpretation and deal structuring.
• Support the team with lender selection, servicing, income assessment and credit strategy.
• Act as an escalation point for difficult credit scenarios while building the team's ability to solve future scenarios independently.
• Review complex files and provide feedback before, during and after submission.
• Improve application quality and increase first-time-right submissions.
• Identify recurring credit errors, knowledge gaps and process issues across the team.
• Monitor credit quality and use trends, errors and outcomes to determine future coaching and training priorities.

Qualifications & Experience

• 7+ years' experience in credit assessment, credit management, or client-facing lending strategy within mortgage broking or financial services.
• Demonstrated experience structuring and resolving complex residential lending scenarios across multiple lenders, with direct client engagement.
• Experience coaching, training, or leading credit or lending staff, with a track record of lifting team capability.
• Experience building or scaling credit policy, processes, or resources within a broking or lending business.
• Deep working knowledge of lender policy, servicing calculators, and the residential lending regulatory environment in Australia.
• Relevant tertiary qualifications in finance, business, or a related discipline highly regarded.
• Relevant industry licences and accreditations (or eligibility to obtain them).

Skills & Attributes:

• Exceptional technical credit knowledge, with sound judgement across complex, sensitive, and ambiguous lending scenarios.
• Genuinely client-focused and motivated by building trusted relationships and guiding clients through complex decisions, not just processing files.
• Confident, clear communicator with clients and able to explain complex credit outcomes and next steps in plain, reassuring terms.
• Strong coaching and mentoring ability, with the patience and communication skills to build capability in others.
• Comfortable acting as a calm, authoritative escalation point under pressure.
• Data-driven and able to spot patterns in errors, declines, and outcomes and turn them into targeted coaching and process improvements.
• Collaborative and approachable, building strong working relationships across Brokers and Credit Assessors.
• High personal integrity and a strong commitment to responsible lending and compliant credit practice.

Remuneration:

A competitive remuneration package will be negotiated with the successful candidate, including base salary, superannuation, and performance-based incentives.