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How to Actually Get Hired
Who reads applications, which channel gets a reply, and what they screen for.
Don't make these mistakes
Positioning yourself as excited about "the agent economy" or "the future of AI payments" generically. Sean and Matt have heard every version of that pitch. Lead with what you have built: an eval system, an identity module, a payment API, a compliance pipeline. The team page lists experience from Brex, Affirm, PayPal, Block, Airbnb, Airwallex. That is the bar they are hiring to.
What gets their attention
The Series A press release states the capital will accelerate development of the AI-native FI and its underlying technology. The team page at catena.xyz lists experience from Brex, Affirm, Adobe, Meta, PayPal, Block, Airbnb, and Airwallex alongside the Circle and USDC background. That team profile describes a hiring bar: people who have shipped production financial infrastructure or production AI systems at serious scale. Two confirmed Ashby roles, both remote-US, both full-time engineering: Head of Applied AI: jobs.ashbyhq.com/catena/4a337163-f29a-4fb3-9a21-edf593dafa5e Senior Software Engineer: jobs.ashbyhq.com/catena/30cd0eb7-4292-425f-acae-c201108280b0
Why applying the normal way doesn't work
Catena Labs uses an ATS, but referrals still come first. Cold applications aren't ignored — they're just behind referrals, sourced candidates, and recruiter picks.
Who to contact at Catena Labs
What to show them
This is the most strategically important engineering hire on the board. The role leads the AI Platform team, which sits alongside Product Development and Banking Core and reports to the CTO. It owns the orchestration layer connecting product experiences to banking infrastructure, establishes eval frameworks for agent reliability, stays ahead of emerging agent protocols (A2A, x402, MCP, LangGraph), and hires and grows the AI engineering and data science team. The job spec is explicit on scope: product AI (agent interactions, identity, risk), operational AI (compliance workflows, automation), and corporate AI (how the team works with AI daily). This is an 80/20 maker/manager role. The company expects this person to build, not just direct. Security is a first-class requirement: the spec specifically calls out understanding of prompt injection, adversarial inputs, and why these matter when money is involved. Core skills: Production AI systems at scale (LLM paradigm specifically), model selection and eval methodology, build-vs-buy judgment, security-aware AI design (prompt injection, adversarial inputs), agent orchestration frameworks, Python and TypeScript, comfort setting technical direction in ambiguous environments. Fintech or payments experience is listed as a nice-to-have, not a requirement. Proof of work: Build and publish an eval harness for an AI agent operating in a financial context: a specific task (route a payment, verify an agent's identity claim, flag a suspicious transaction) with a defined success metric, a set of adversarial test cases (prompt injection attempts, identity spoofing, edge case inputs), and a documented false positive/negative rate. The eval design is the proof. The specific financial context is what separates this from a generic agent eval.
A cold email that works at Catena Labs
What Catena Labs screens for
Their focus: The Series A press release states the capital will accelerate development of the AI-native FI and its underlying technology. The team page at catena.xyz lists experience from Brex, Affirm, Adobe, Meta, PayPal, Block, Airbnb, and Airwallex alongside the Circle and USDC background. That team profile describes a hiring bar: people who have shipped production financial infrastructure or production AI systems at serious scale. Two confirmed Ashby roles, both remote-US, both full-time engineering: Head of Applied AI: jobs.ashbyhq.com/catena/4a337163-f29a-4fb3-9a21-edf593dafa5e Senior Software Engineer: jobs.ashbyhq.com/catena/30cd0eb7-4292-425f-acae-c201108280b0
Don't send a generic CV to Catena Labs. Mirror the job posting's language to get past automated screening.
Mistakes that kill applications
At people, a copy-paste CV is immediately obvious. It's an instant no.
Lead with their problem, not your ambition. Catena Labs is focused on The agent economy is not a future scenario — show you understand that.
Don't apply and wait. The median AI application gets no response ever. One follow-up at day five roughly doubles reply rates.
Frequently asked questions
How do I apply to Catena Labs?
Through the roles on our Catena Labs jobs page, or directly to the hiring manager if you can reach them. At null people, direct outreach outperforms the form.
Does Catena Labs respond to cold emails?
We're still collecting cold email data for Catena Labs.
Who is the hiring manager at Catena Labs?
At this size, hiring is usually run by the hiring manager.
How competitive is it to get hired at Catena Labs?
-person AI companies see ~100-250 applicants per role in two weeks. The 72-hour window is your advantage.
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