National brokerage Just Mortgages has strengthened its self-employed management team by appointing Nigel Smith as area director for the Midlands.

In the new role, Smith will support self-employed brokers in the region with their day-to-day operations and their future planning.

In addition to coaching those making the move from employed to self-employed, he will help those existing self-employed brokers to expand their skill sets and ultimately their own businesses.

He will also work closely with brokers to access the ongoing training, compliance and marketing support offered by Just Mortgages.

Smith brings more than 17 years of experience from his tenure at Countrywide, starting out as a broker himself in 2006.

He was promoted to sales manager in 2011 for Somerset and Bristol, before progressing to financial services director for the west and Wales division in 2018.

In this role, he managed eight sales managers and more than 60 mortgage advisers based in estate agencies across the region.

Smith becomes the fourteenth area director and joins recent arrival Stephen Swyny to support brokers in the Midlands region.

He says: “I’m delighted to be joining the team at Just Mortgages and taking on this challenge in its impressive self-employed division.

“A big passion of mine is using my skills and experience to coach brokers and help them grow their day-to-day business.

“The role presents a fantastic opportunity to do this and to join an ambitious and exciting brokerage.”

Just Mortgages national director Carl Parker says: “Expanding our management team continues our commitment to ensuring we provide all our self-employed brokers with the necessary support structure to make a real success of it.

“Having worked at Countrywide together, I know Nigel to be incredibly experienced and highly motivating. It’s great to see him join the team at Just Mortgages.”