In the role, he will grow the business-to-business sales team and open a new intermediary sales channel alongside StrideUp’s existing direct to consumer business.
He was head of sales at Masthaven for around seven years, and helped grow the bank to 200 employees.
Masthaven announced that it would withdraw from the UK banking market earlier this year, with reports suggesting that Starling Bank bought a £500m mortgage book from Masthaven.
Sturgess joined LiveMore Capital earlier this year with a remit to build its later life offering to help older borrowers and mortgage prisoners.
His previous roles are as head of sales at Magellan Homeloans, sales director at GE Money and head of sales at Firstplus Financial.
StrideUp said that Sturgess joined the business at a “time of significant growth and strategic importance”.
In June, the firm completed a £280m funding deal with Ara Ven, and since then it has been growing its team and building out its proposition.
Sakeeb Zaman, co-founder and CEO of StrideUp, said: “We’ve been hugely encouraged by the support and feedback we’ve had from brokers to date. StrideUp’s unique proposition gives first-time buyers the help they need to access up to 6.5 times income where they can sustainably demonstrate affordability.
“In these times of cost-of-living uncertainty and rate increases, the market coverage and advice consumers get from brokers has never been more valuable. With Jon’s appointment we’re excited to grow our intermediary channel and build a best-in-class service for our broker panel.”
Sturgess added: “I’m excited to bring a proposition to market in an area where consumers, especially first-time buyers, are finding it harder and harder to get on the property ladder.
“The Help to Buy scheme has been great but its conclusion means it will be even more difficult for many people to buy their first home. With our flexible approach and innovative product range StrideUp can help fix that.”
