---
title: 'COMPLIANCE PROGRAM MANAGER at Catena'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/compliance-program-manager-catena-new-york-351n4qhpfqmq'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-14'
---

# COMPLIANCE PROGRAM MANAGER at Catena

- **Company:** Catena
- **Location:** New York, NY
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-08-20
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-14
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/catena/a7fc40b9-27cd-4e51-a9a8-f12dbf11dcf5

## Job description

## ABOUT THE ROLE

The Compliance Program Manager helps build the compliance backbone of Catena Trust Bank. Reporting to the Chief Compliance Officer and partnering closely with the Chief Trust Officer, the Program Manager operates core elements of the Compliance Management System and leads its fiduciary, third-party risk, non-BSA compliance, and affiliate-transaction programs — in one of the most novel regulated environments in financial services.

## WHAT YOU’LL DO

- Help stand up and run the Trust Bank’s Compliance Management System under the Chief Compliance Officer.
- Lead fiduciary compliance across the Trust Bank’s custody, investment management, and trust activities.
- Operate the third-party risk management program across the vendor lifecycle, including oversight of affiliate-provided services.
- Administer affiliate transactions across intercompany activity — governed by CTB’s Affiliate Transactions and Third-Party Risk Management policies, supported by written market-terms analysis, and subject to Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act and Regulation W.
- Oversee any other non-financial crimes related Compliance obligations of the Trust Bank, including Privacy, UDAP, and others.
- Track regulatory developments and help deliver the compliance training program.
- Prepare committee and Board materials and support examinations and audits.

## WHAT YOU’LL BRING

- 5+ years in compliance at a bank or trust company, ideally with some fiduciary and trust compliance experience under 12 C.F.R. Part 9 and/or general non-financial crimes compliance.
- Strong command of a bank Compliance Management System and second-line oversight — risk assessment, monitoring and testing, issue management, and reporting.
- Understanding of conflicts-of-interest and self-dealing controls in a fiduciary context.
- Exceptional writing, with comfort drafting policies, procedures, and Board materials.
- Sound judgment and initiative in an ambiguous, build-from-scratch environment.

## NICE TO HAVE

- Hands-on TPRM program experience aligned to OCC Bulletin 2023-17, including vendor and affiliate oversight.
- Working knowledge of Regulation W (Sections 23A/23B) and affiliate-transaction controls.
- Exposure to digital assets, stablecoins, or fintech custody and payments.
- Experience related to implementing systems that leverage AI and ML to increase quality and productivity within the function.
- Experience through a de novo charter or with OCC supervision; CRCM or comparable certification.

## JOIN US

If you're passionate about pushing the boundaries of what AI agents can do in financial services and want to be part of building the trusted financial infrastructure for the agentic economy, we want to hear from you. You'll have the opportunity to work on challenging problems that have never been solved before, with a team that's defining an entirely new category of financial services. This is more than a job; it's a chance to be part of the startup team that makes the AI economy possible. Your work will directly enable millions of AI agents to participate safely in commerce, unlocking trillions in economic value and increasing prosperity around the world.

## About Catena

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Catena is building a regulated banking and governance platform purpose-built for AI agents, combining a technology platform with a national trust bank to create the first AI-native financial institution.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series A)
- **Headquarters**: Boston, United States
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Sean Neville (CEO) and Matt Venables (CTO)

## Core Business
- Primary industry/industries: Banking and financial infrastructure for AI agents (Fintech / AI Infrastructure)
- Target customers: B2B — businesses and developers deploying AI agents that need to handle money; enterprises running agentic workflows at scale
- Mission or purpose statement: To build the first regulated AI-native financial institution, ensuring that agents transact safely under human-defined policies.

## Products & Services
- **Catena Platform (Banking for Agents)**: A banking platform that gives AI agents programmable financial infrastructure — verified identities, accounts, stablecoin and fiat payments, yield, and liquidity — accessed via atomic, programmable services.
- **Catena Control Plane (Governance for Humans)**: A human-facing dashboard for setting policies, capping spending, restricting counterparties, approving transactions, and auditing every agent movement. Extends governance to non-custodial agent accounts and, in future, third-party provider accounts.
- **Private Access Program**: Early-access service for select businesses, covering trust & compliance (agent identity, reputation, governance) and financial operations (liquidity, risk management, yield).
- **Agent Commerce Kit (ACK)**: An open-source collection of patterns, components, and emerging protocols for verifiable agent identity, payment flows, and receipts between agents, humans, and businesses with integrated human oversight.
- **OCC National Trust Bank Charter (in progress)**: Pursuing federal regulatory status to operate as a direct, governed bank for agents, transitioning from partner-backed operations.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total financing of **$48 million** (Series A of $30M co-led by a16z crypto and Acrew, plus $18M Seed led by a16z crypto)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: a16z crypto (lead), Acrew (co-lead Series A), Breyer Capital (earliest supporter), Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Stanford Engineering, Pillar VC, General Catalyst, QED, Oak HC/FT, Fin Capital, IDG Capital, and angel investors including Tom Brady, Bradley Horowitz, Hamel Husain, Sam Palmisano, and Balaji Srinivasan.
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew **+87.5% YoY** to 11 employees (LinkedIn data); LinkedIn followers surged **+403.7% YoY** to 2,317; announced $30M Series A and OCC charter application in progress; platform now in Private Access with paying customers.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Regulatory moat**: Pursuing a National Trust Bank charter, positioning Catena as the first regulated financial institution purpose-built for AI agents — a defensible moat that legacy fintechs and unregulated platforms lack.
- **Policy-first architecture**: Every agent action flows through deterministic policies before execution — no exceptions — addressing the core risk of ungoverned agent financial activity.
- **Dual-surface design**: One platform serves agents (banking) and humans (control plane), solving a unique coordination problem in agentic finance.
- **Team pedigree**: Founded by co-creators of Circle and USDC (Sean Neville, Matt Venables), with team experience from Brex, Affirm, Adobe, Meta, PayPal, Block, Airbnb, and Airwallex.
- **Open-source strategy**: ACK creates ecosystem lock-in and developer mindshare while standardizing agent commerce.

## Strategic Focus
- **Scale Private Access**: Expand the customer base for agent banking and governance services.
- **Obtain OCC Charter**: Complete regulatory approval to become a direct, regulated national trust bank.
- **Hire aggressively**: Building out key roles (Head of Applied AI, Senior Software Engineers, Forward Deployed Engineers) to scale the technology platform and compliance infrastructure.
- **Expand product suite**: Roll out broader financial services for agents — payments, stablecoin rails, yield, risk, and clearing — as agent capabilities grow.
- **Build ecosystem**: Grow the Agent Commerce Kit and community standards for agent identity and commerce.

## Why Work Here
- **Cutting-edge mission**: Shape the financial infrastructure of the AI agent economy, working on a first-of-its-kind regulated bank for agents.
- **Strong team**: Co-founders who invented USDC and built Circle, plus a lean but elite team drawn from top fintech and Big Tech (Brex, Meta, PayPal, Airbnb, etc.).
- **Well-funded**: $48M from top-tier investors (a16z, General Catalyst, Coinbase Ventures) provides runway and stability for a high-risk, high-reward venture.
- **Remote-friendly**: Open roles are listed as "Remote - United States" (e.g., Head of Applied AI, Senior Software Engineer).
- **Culture**: Emphasis on building foundational technology (open-source ACK, regulatory compliance, agent infrastructure) with a policy-first, safety-conscious mindset — appealing to engineers who care about responsible AI.
- **Growth trajectory**: Small team (11-50 employees) with explosive headcount growth and market attention, offering early employees outsized impact and career acceleration.

## Sources
1. [catena.com - About](https://catena.com/about)
2. [linkedin.com - Catena Company Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/company/catenalabs)
3. [catena.com - Founding Announcement](https://catena.com/blog/announcing-catena-labs)
4. [catena.com - Platform & Series A Announcement](https://catena.com/blog/banking-governance-platform-for-ai-agents-open)
5. [ashbyhq.com - Careers Page](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/catena)

## Other roles at Catena

- [BSA OPERATIONS MANAGER](https://feeny.ai/job/bsa-operations-manager-catena-new-york-sefmszcspz8g) — New York, NY
- [Forward Deployed Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/forward-deployed-engineer-catena-united-states-7y1a05ftwmm7) — United States
- [Senior Software Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-catena-united-states-4apb5ayg394h) — United States