Talent Partner

Catena · Remote (US) · NY Preferred · Full-Time

The Short Version

We're 15 people, moving fast, and building the connectivity layer that freight has been missing for 20 years. We need someone who can own recruiting end-to-end, not a coordinator or a job-poster, but a talent operator who helps us define what great looks like, builds a process worth being proud of, and closes strong people into a company worth joining.

This is our first dedicated recruiting hire and a founding-level role in everything but title.

What You'll Own

Recruiting is the whole job. You'll help define what "great" looks like for each role before we open it, build and run tight interview processes, maintain a candidate experience we'd be proud of if we were the ones applying, and help close the people we actually want. You'll own the pipeline, the process, and the outcome, not just the scheduling.

Beyond the individual search, you'll help us get better at hiring over time. That means building the infrastructure: how we write job descriptions, how we evaluate candidates consistently, how we debrief well, how we move fast without cutting corners. You'll be the center of gravity for every search we run.

What This Role Is Not

This is not a coordination role. It's not about posting jobs and managing calendars. It's not HR generalism, benefits administration, or policy work.

You'll spend your time thinking about talent, where to find it, how to assess it, and how to close it. Everything else lives outside this role.

Who Fits This Role

You've run recruiting in high-growth startups (10–100 people) and understand what it means to hire without a big brand, a big budget, or a big team behind you. You've probably held a title like Recruiting Lead, Talent Partner, or Head of Talent — or you've been the recruiting function at a small company while the title said something else.

Specifically, you:

• Have real recruiting reps. You've owned searches end-to-end, managed pipelines, and personally helped close candidates not just moved them through a system.
• Think like a builder. You see a broken hiring process and want to fix it, not work around it.
• Are comfortable with ambiguity. Priorities shift moving from seed to Series A. You stay oriented and keep searches moving anyway.
• Write clearly and communicate directly. Candidates and hiring managers both deserve crisp, honest communication.
• Handle sensitive situations with judgment. Hiring decisions carry real stakes at a small company.
• Take ownership seriously. You're the person who catches a slow pipeline before it becomes a missed hire.

5+ years of experience in recruiting, talent acquisition, or startup talent operations.

Why Catena, Why Now

Catena has raised $8.25M from Shaper Capital, Floating Point, Plug and Play, Liquid 2, and leading industry angels. Customers are already using us in production — many of them are also investors, which tells you something.

We're operators who've worked inside carriers, brokerages, TMSs, and financial institutions. We care about accuracy and real outcomes. The team we're building reflects that.

If you join now, you'll help set the cultural and operational foundation for a company with real momentum. That's rare.

Compensation: Competitive salary, meaningful equity, full benefits, 401k match.

Remote-first. Optional travel for team offsites and occasional on-sites.