William Thorneycroft's route into mortgages took in law and heritage construction before a graduate scheme at Connells Group. Learning how the business worked gave him ideas for making everyday tasks easier, and he now builds tools that help consultants manage appointments, understand credit reports and hear from customers.
"For me, innovation is about using what you have, learning what you need and seeing an idea through until it delivers something genuinely useful."
William Thorneycroft didn't expect mortgages to bring together his interests in property, technology and understanding how things work. He had studied law and worked in heritage construction before joining Connells Group's Mortgage Services Graduate Scheme, where he began learning an entirely new industry.
Moving through business development, lender relationships, compliance and projects gave him a view of the connections between teams. It also meant he could see where the same everyday tasks were taking more effort than they needed to. He started teaching himself the tools to do something about it.
Now a product lead, William has built an Appointment Tracker to bring customer appointments, notes and follow ups together. His Credit Scanner helps consultants pick out details in complex credit reports, while his work on customer surveys connects selection and distribution with the reporting of results. He has taken those projects through design, development, testing and rollout, listening to the people who use them along the way.
That curiosity extends beyond his main role. William built the website for his father's heritage construction business and continues to manage it. He is also completing a Level 6 Machine Learning and AI Engineer course. Looking ahead, he wants to bring his experience across property and technology into a more strategic role, developing practical tools that make colleagues' work and customers' journeys easier.