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Catena Labs
Banking infrastructure for AI agents
Last verified August 17, 2026 · Updated daily
What Catena Labs is building
Every payment rail built today assumes a human at one end of the transaction. ACH takes three days. Credit card fees run at 3%. KYC flows require a face. Fraud detection flags automated behaviour. None of that was designed for a world where 80% of economic activity is initiated by an AI agent rather than a person. Catena is building the financial institution that was designed from scratch for that world. The platform has three layers. The identity layer gives AI agents cryptographic identities, reputation scores, and the ability to authenticate themselves to counterparties without requiring a human to be in the loop. The payment layer uses stablecoins (primarily USDC, which Sean Neville co-invented) for near-instant, low-cost settlement that agents can execute programmatically without the delays and fees of legacy rails. The compliance layer handles KYC, AML, and risk management for autonomous actors rather than individual humans, a genuinely novel regulatory design problem. The Agent Commerce Kit (ACK) is the open-source protocol layer released at the seed announcement: building blocks for agent identity, payment, and commerce that any developer can use independently of Catena's licensed financial services. It is Catena's bid to set the standards for the category rather than just build a product in it. Catena is also the first company to apply for a US OCC national trust bank charter specifically for AI agent financial services, seeking regulatory authority to hold customer funds and process payments for agent transactions. The charter application is itself a moat: the compliance infrastructure required to get there is not something a new entrant can replicate quickly. The platform stack is Python and TypeScript, deployed on AWS and CloudFlare, using multiple LLM providers, and integrating with emerging agent protocols: A2A, x402, MCP, and LangGraph.
Why this matters
The agent economy is not a future scenario. Coinbase launched the first wallet purpose-built for autonomous AI agents in February 2026. OKX debuted an agent payments protocol in April. Deloitte has forecast that AI and stablecoins will reshape financial services by 2030. The infrastructure race is happening now, and the category is still wide open. The OCC charter application is the competitive moat argument. Most agentic payments companies are building at the application layer: they are connecting agents to existing rails, wrapping existing banks, and hoping the compliance complexity does not catch up with them. Catena is applying to become the bank. That is a fundamentally different product: it does not depend on underlying institutions that were not designed for agents, it cannot be pulled by a banking partner who decides the risk profile is unacceptable, and it can design its own risk and compliance systems specifically for autonomous actors. If the charter is granted, Catena holds customer funds directly and processes payments under federal authority. No other company in the agentic finance space is attempting this. A16z crypto's Chris Dixon named the investment thesis precisely at the seed: "AI agents need bank accounts and payment rails they can access programmatically, along with clear rules and controls that keep humans in charge." The Series A validation from Acrew Capital, General Catalyst, and QED arriving alongside a16z's continued support confirms the thesis has only strengthened in the twelve months since.
Open roles at Catena Labs
2 positions we're tracking. Roles are re-checked daily and removed when filled.
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A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window — and where we put you in it.
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Watching Catena Labs
0 applicantsRole spotted & verified
1You get the alert
1You've applied
~8Hits the job boards
250+Hiring outlook
Very High. Two live Ashby roles posted today. The Series A press release explicitly states the capital will accelerate development of the AI-native FI and its underlying technology. Small team, big mandate, no ATS bloat yet.
Working at Catena Labs
Catena Labs: Banking infrastructure for AI agents. Founded , currently employees. What this means for you: opportunity to shape your role based on the company stage.
Most Catena Labs jobs are based in Boston, MA (remote-first engineering).
How to actually get hired at Catena Labs
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
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.
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.
Mistakes that kill Catena Labs 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.
Applying to Catena Labs? Get the contact, not the form.
The Catena Labs interview process
4 stages · 14 days typical · take-home: yes · modelled from similar companies
We don't yet have verified candidate reports for Catena Labs. What follows is the typical process for a -person AI company — treat it as a model, not confirmed detail.
Interview stages
Recruiter Screen
Phone or video · 30 min
Basic qualification and logistics
Recruiter or HR
Hiring Manager Interview
Video call · 45 min
Role fit and experience deep-dive
Hiring manager
Technical/Functional Round
Video call · 60 min
Skills assessment and problem-solving
Team members
Final Round
In-person or video · 60 min
Culture fit and cross-functional alignment
Senior leadership
Catena Labs take-home assignment
Catena Labs includes a take-home exercise in their interview process. For AI roles, this typically involves a practical problem that takes 2-4 hours. Focus on clean, working code over premature optimization. They're evaluating how you think and communicate, not just the solution.
Catena Labs interview timeline
At days, Catena Labs's process is about average than typical for AI (14 days at this size).
Interviewed at Catena Labs?
Tell us how it went — stages, questions, timeline. Takes 90 seconds and it's how this page stays accurate for the next person.
Submit your Catena Labs interview experience →Catena Labs jobs, frequently asked questions
How many jobs does Catena Labs have open?
Catena Labs currently has 2 open roles, last verified June 2026.
Does Catena Labs hire remotely?
All current Catena Labs roles are based in Boston, MA (remote-first engineering).
What roles is Catena Labs hiring for?
Catena Labs is hiring across Data, Engineering. The most recent opening is Head of Applied AI.
How do I apply for a job at Catena Labs?
Apply directly through the links above, or read our guide on how to actually get hired at Catena Labs.
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.
How many rounds is the Catena Labs interview?
4 stages: Recruiter Screen, Hiring Manager Interview, Technical/Functional Round, Final Round.
Is the Catena Labs interview hard?
It concentrates on technical depth and system design rather than abstract puzzles. The stage candidates find hardest is Technical Interview.
Does Catena Labs give a take-home task?
Yes, Catena Labs includes a take-home assignment.
How long does Catena Labs take to get back to you?
Around 14 days across the full process.
What should I prepare for the Catena Labs interview?
Prepare for technical depth and system design. A -person startup wants proof you can ship, not that you can whiteboard.
Where is Catena Labs based?
Catena Labs is headquartered in Boston, MA (remote-first engineering).
Get Catena Labs roles before they're posted
A role stays uncontested for about four days. Here's the window — and where we put you in it.
From $9/month, cancel any time.
Watching Catena Labs
0 applicantsRole spotted & verified
1You get the alert
1You've applied
~8Hits the job boards
250+