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Gen H

When I joined Gen H, there wasn't a mature product organisation, design system, or established way of working. Over six years I helped shape how the company designed, built and shipped products, moving from designer to product leader and eventually designing and building production software myself. During that period Gen H became a fully regulated lender originating over £1bn of lending annually across the portfolio.

// About
Tenure6 years
RoleSole designer
Full stack productResearch → Design → Code
From the beginning£0 to over £1bn annual lending

Before we begin

Just Mortgages interest-only calculatorA partner tool that lets advisers show clients the real benefit of interest-only with Gen H. IO applications from Just Mortgages up 120%.
Persimmon scheme comparison toolHelping Persimmon's advisers and customers compare 17+ schemes and see where New Build Boost wins.
Chapter one

Building foundations

2020Joined early stageSupported regulatory approval2021Established research led product buildBuilt out design system2022Embedded within product leadership2023Supported investor storytelling2024Self-built internal toolsStarted shipping production code
  • Research
  • Strategy
  • Brand
  • Experience design
  • Visual design
  • Engineering
Chapter two

Designing the lending experience

Mortgages are complicated. My role wasn't simply to make things look better, but to reduce anxiety and help customers make confident financial decisions.

Registration and case managementTurning a complex onboarding process into a trusted broker relationship. 5,000 authenticated broker accounts registered through this flow.
Broker affordability assessmentReducing complexity to deliver accurate lending decisions faster. Roughly £3bn assessed in affordability sessions each day.
Broker loan originationBuilding the mortgage application journey around how brokers actually work. Mortgage Awards Best lender for technology, three years running.
Customer dashboardGiving homeowners a clearer view of their mortgage and financial progress. 100% of simple servicing activities covered by self-serve.
OverpaymentsTurning overpayments from a transaction into a financial decision. Over 1,800 overpayments worth £86,000 made through the flow.
Rate switchingBalancing speed, transparency and compliance across multiple user types. 2,050 product switches (1,700 self-serve, 350 via broker).
Chapter three

Scaling operations

As Gen H grew, the work moved behind the scenes, helping operations, underwriting and servicing teams handle rising volume without losing clarity or control.

Underwriting PlatformHelping underwriters make complex decisions with greater confidence and speed. Their sole platform to complete their work.
Mortgage Servicing PlatformMaking complex servicing operations easier to understand and manage. 90% of special servicing requirements handled in-platform.
Chapter four

From designer to builder

As the company grew, I found that waiting for engineering capacity wasn't always the fastest route to solving problems. I started building production-ready tools myself, using code as another design material.

Things no one asked me to build

Asset creator
Emails within operator tooling
Sales presentation app
Chapter five

What I've learned

Looking back, I'm most proud of helping build an organisation rather than any single screen. The work ranged from mortgage journeys and broker platforms to design systems, internal tooling and production code, but the common thread was always the same: helping small teams make better decisions and ship better products.