Apply here: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/pear/7ecc09db-8a34-43ec-8a18-f48eb4f707cd

About the Job

Position: Founding GTM Strategy & Operations (Full-Time)

Reporting to: CEO

Location: San Francisco (4 days/week in person)

Company Overview

Lenders spend over $24B every year hiring agents to perform manual, repetitive servicing work. Existing AI solutions try to automate this, but they treat regulatory guardrails as an afterthought - meaning they can’t guarantee compliance and can’t be trusted with critical servicing workflows.

Kato takes a different approach.

Regulations aren’t an afterthought - they’re the foundation. We start with a regulatory rules system and layer an AI decision engine on top of it. With this architecture, we’re building an AI-powered servicing platform that automates critical workflows across every channel with full compliance and best-in-class recoveries. Human teams are then free to focus only on the judgment-driven work that truly needs them.

We are starting today with a compliance first Voice AI agent that handles outbound and inbound loan servicing calls, and are already in production with major names in the fintech lending space like Bilt Rewards and Parafin.

Kato is founded by a team with deep operating expertise in financial services and software engineering:

Pratik Risbud (CEO/Co-Founder): Former Investment Banker at Goldman Sachs and led Credit/Operations at Brex
David Zhu (CTO/Co-Founder): Former Software Engineer at Google and Engineering Manager at Brex

Kato is backed by institutional capital from Pear VC and angel investors from top tech companies such as Brex, Bridge, and Square. We are looking for top talent to join our team and power our growth.

The Role

We’re looking for a Founding GTM Strategy & Operations hire to help build the operational machinery that turns our early traction into a repeatable, scalable revenue engine. This is one of the most critical hires at Kato - someone who will work directly with the CEO to build out our sales motion, strengthen our brand, and create leverage across the go-to-market function.

This is a role for someone who is hungry, resourceful, and wants outsized career growth. You’ll help build the GTM engine from the ground up, and once it’s running smoothly, you’ll have the option to deepen your role in sales or expand into other high-priority areas of the business (marketing, recruiting, operations) depending on where you want to grow.

The role is full-time and in-person in San Francisco (4 days/week in the office).

Key responsibilities

1) Outbound & Lead Generation (60%)

Own end-to-end outbound: research, list building, copy, multi-channel outreach (email + LinkedIn), message refining
Build and maintain a comprehensive database of the lending market.
Create, manage, and refine nurture campaigns for older or dormant leads

2) Sales Operations (20%)

Prepare prospect research and call prep materials to support deal advancement
Write post-meeting summaries and follow-up emails
Own CRM hygiene and data quality
Build and maintain GTM reporting dashboards (e.g., outbound conversion rates, pipeline velocity, meeting-to-opportunity conversion)

3) Content & Collateral Creation (20%)

Refine and build high-quality sales collateral that moves deals forward: decks, one-pagers, case studies, ROI models, competitive battlecards
Define Kato’s content strategy by creating blog posts, newsletters, and other top-of-funnel materials

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business or related field
1–2 years of experience in consulting or startups
Prior outbound sales (BDR/SDR) or sales operations experience strongly preferred
Exceptional written communication
Comfortable operating with high agency and driving independent progress toward company goals
Strong attention to detail, organization, and follow-through
Proficiency with common business tools such as Google Workspace (e.g. Google Docs, Google Sheets) and Slack. Experience with CRM systems like Hubspot preferred

Why Join Us

Work with founders that have built and scaled financial products for 9+ years
Build something meaningful - this won’t be a 9-to-5. It will be intense, rewarding, and career-defining. You will own core parts of our revenue engine from day one.
Be part of an early-stage startup redefining how loan servicing is done through compliance-first Voice AI.
Get unmatched career acceleration: you’ll learn sales, GTM strategy, and startup execution at a depth few roles offer.

Kato

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Kato Founding GTM Strategy & Operations