The combination of computational design and directed evolution could offer a general strategy to create enzymes with new functions. To date, this approach has delivered enzymes for a handful of model reactions. Here we show that new catalytic mechanisms can be engineered into proteins to accelerate more challenging chemical transformations. Evolutionary optimization of a primitive design afforded an efficient and enantioselective enzyme (BH32.14) for the Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction. BH32.14 is suitable for preparative scale transformations, accepts a broad range of aldehyde and enone coupling partners, and is able to promote selective mono-functionalizations of dialdehydes. Crystallographic, biochemical and computational studies reveal that BH32.14 operates via a sophisticated catalytic mechanism comprising a His23 nucleophile paired with a judiciously positioned Arg124. This catalytic arginine shuttles between conformational states to stabilize multiple oxyanion intermediates and serves as a genetically encoded surrogate of privileged bidentate hydrogen bonding catalysts (e.g. thioureas). This study demonstrates that elaborate catalytic devices can be built from scratch to promote demanding multi-step processes not observed in Nature.