I was contacted by a recruiter about Engineering Manager position at Envoy via Linkedin. I gave a hands up that I was expecting but I said I was ready for a change and wanted to discuss the position. When I had a call with the recruiter, it went well till the moment he started asking me when I was due and how much time I needed to take off (I don't think it's even legal to ask). I said that I'm willing to discuss options, my career is important for me etc. Right after discussing my possible maternity leave , he told me I was not hands on enough for this position, I tried to explain that I'm happy to do coding interviews and gave examples of me being hands-on in my last position. Didn't help. Never heard back. It's difficult to prove anything, but that was very odd when he jumped to the conclusion about me not being hands-on enough right after discussing my pregnancy.

The interview process started with a recruiter screen and a call with the engineering manager, who was candid about internal challenges and repeatedly asked if I’d ever fired someone—raising early concerns about the team culture. I completed a system design interview that went very well. A week later, I was told the hiring manager was happy with my performance, but that I wasn’t “experienced enough” for the Engineering Manager opening. Instead, he offered an equivalent-level IC position. When I asked what level that was, he said P3—typically meant for engineers with 3–4 years of experience. I was stunned, as I have over 15 years of deeply technical experience, including senior architecture and management roles, which we had already discussed. When I pointed this out, he said, “Oh—I missed that!” and suggested adjusting the role to principal IC. He then proposed as a next step, I do a system design interview, unaware I had already completed the system design interview earlier in the week! After that, I never heard back. The process felt disorganized and poorly managed, with key details overlooked and my experience clearly misjudged. It was borderline insulting. Don't waste your time interviewing with this company!!