Senior EA to the CEO
Mother Root · London, United Kingdom · hybrid
🌱 Who we are Mother Root is the fiery ginger non-alcoholic aperitif. We harness the power of apple cider vinegar to serve up a dose of good feelings. Our mission is to redefine the evening ritual of drinking well and feeling good, with drinks that are complex, delicious and rooted in nature.
We're the UK's fastest-growing drinks brand and the number one non-alcoholic spirit. We were a £7m business last year and we're on track for more than £20m this year. Next we're accelerating that growth, and becoming one of the leading non-alcoholic brands in the US as well as the UK. Small but mighty team, big category, plenty still to build.
We're building a team where ambitious people do the best work of their careers, supporting each other and making something they truly believe in. We believe work should be joyful, purposeful and full of flavour.
🚀 The RoleMother Root is growing fast, and our founder and CEO, Bethan, is pulled in more directions than one calendar can hold. You're here to change that. The job isn't managing an inbox - it's building a system around her so the right things reach her at the right time and everything else gets decided without her.
You'll set up and run the tools that now do most traditional EA work (we use AI, Notion and Slack every day), then lead from above them: filtering, tweaking, spotting what matters and getting Bethan's attention when something genuinely needs it. Over time you'll know her and the business well enough to predict her answer and act on it.
You'll work side by side with Bethan, our senior leadership team and our Heads Of. You'll be across the meetings she's in and the documents that come her way, so you can keep her briefed and step in for her when she's not in the room.
This role isn't for someone who wants a clear task list each morning. You'll tell the CEO when she's spending time on the wrong things, hold her to the boundaries she sets and be ahead of the week without anyone asking you to be. If you'd rather be told what to do, this won't be the job for you.
📋 What You’ll Do- Build the system
- Set up and run AI and automation so most of the inbox, calendar, meeting notes and follow-ups happen without anyone touching them.
- Create one view of Bethan's world: what's waiting on her, what's coming up and what needs thinking time.
- Turn repeat ad hoc requests into simple processes and clear decision rights, so the team can make good calls without escalating.
Run the week, ahead of time
- Plan Bethan's calendar weeks out in clear blocks, with prep and pre-read time before key meetings and reflection time before big decisions.
- Look ahead each quarter so key dates, travel and commitments are in the diary well before they land.
- Protect the non-negotiables (family, research, exercise, free time) as firmly as a board meeting.
- Own Bethan's travel end to end, from booking and itineraries to visas and logistics, planning ahead as much as possible.
- Keep Bethan accountable. Spot patterns that keep recurring or building up and bring them with a fix.
Be a second pair of eyes and ears
- Attend or catch up on Bethan's meetings and read what lands on her desk. Brief her in a way that leads with what needs a decision.
- Be the first point of contact for external requests, from intros and investor meetings to podcast, press and speaking invites.
- Step in when she can't: represent her in meetings, chase actions and make calls within agreed limits.
- Challenge up. When something shouldn't be on Bethan's plate, say so and recommend who should own it.
- Help Bethan remember what matters to the people she works with, so she can show up for them. You'll handle this with care and discretion.
🧭 Your first year- First month: shadow everything. Learn how Bethan works, who's who and where her time actually goes, then come back with an honest audit.
- By month three: the system is live. One view, a calendar planned weeks ahead and most admin automated. Bethan has noticeably more thinking time.
- By month six: you're running the week with light-touch input and deputising in meetings. The team gets decisions from agreed processes rather than from Bethan's inbox.
- By month twelve: you can predict Bethan's call on most things, and the business runs smoothly whether she's in the room or not.
🎓 What You’ll Bring- You've been the right hand to a senior leader in a fast-moving business, and you made their job smaller.
- You think in systems. When the same request lands twice, you build something so it doesn't land a third time.
- You're genuinely at home with AI and automation. You've set up tools other people rely on, and you know where AI helps and where a human needs to check its work.
- You have the judgement to sort a CEO's inbox into urgent, noise and sensitive without being told which is which.
- You'll tell a founder "this shouldn't be you," kindly and clearly, and bring the alternative with you.
- You're discreet by default with confidential people, finance and board matters.
- You're warm and organised in equal measure, and people like dealing with you.
- Experience with Notion, Slack, Google Workspace and AI notetakers.
Useful, not essential
Experience in a startup or consumer brand background.
💫 How we workFour values, and we use them to make actual calls.
- Be human. Warmth first, with each other, customers and suppliers. The person stays at the heart of every decision. We're straight when it's hard, and we lean on each other.
- Bring the heat. Energy, hunger, momentum. We're ambitious and we don't settle. We back ourselves and we test and learn rather than get stuck in debate.
- Keep it simple. Fewer things, done properly. The simplest version wins. Simple is harder, that's the point.
- Stay original. We lead, we don't follow. We made the category, and staying original means never stopping there.
🌟 Why this is a brilliant job- You'll see how a founder makes decisions, up close, across board, investors, retail, the US launch and the team.
- You'll design how the CEO's office works from scratch, with real licence to use AI to do it.
- You'll work across every part of a category-leading brand, not just one function.
- Your judgement will be trusted. You'll make calls on Bethan's behalf, not just book meetings.
- The role grows as you do.
✍️ How to applySend your CV and, instead of a cover letter, in no more than 200 words, please: Tell us about a time when you noticed something wasn’t working for the person you were supporting as well as it could be - and how you fixed it?
💛 Benefits & Perks - Share Options Programme
- Hybrid working: 3 x a week in office (Mon, Tues, Thurs) & 2 from home
- Annual Leave: 25 days per year
- Summer Hours: Early finish Fridays (June–August)
- Work From Anywhere: Up to 2 weeks per year
- Pension: Up to 5% matched contribution
- Cycle Scheme: Bike or Lime/Forest Pass
- Personal Development: £300 annual allowance for approved training
- Wellbeing Support: Access to Spill app & Heka allowance (£40/month) + birthday/work anniversary boosts
- Annual Team Trip: Gastronomical & wellbeing-focused team away trip
- Parental Leave: Competitive maternity/paternity package
- Lots of free Mother Root