Strange experience. The hiring manager brought up salary in the first interview out of caution that they couldn't afford me. I told him the upper limit of their posted base range worked for me (considering other comp), but anything less was too much of a pay cut. They agreed to move forward understanding they'd need to spend the whole budget. After weeks of interviewing me, we got to offer stage, and they low-balled by 40k. I'm not sure if there was a communication breakdown between recruiting and hiring, or if it was some sort of play. I reached out to peers/managers I interviewed with and none of them replied. So I declined. The (very specific) role was still posted months later, with the same range. The mindset puzzles me: I'm hiring for a role, I have a budget, I find the right candidate, he'll accept a number inside the budget... I grenade the deal. To what end?