The interview process consisted of 7 rounds over approximately 4 weeks: Recruiter, IT Manager (general), Live Coding, IT Manager (general – second round), Lead Engineer, CTO, and HR. While the process appeared structured at first, it felt longer than necessary, with some overlap between interview stages. The live coding round focused primarily on algorithmic exercises, which felt misaligned with the lead level frontend and architectural expectations. During later stages, some questions seemed to require very specific phrasing or predefined answers rather than evaluating practical reasoning or experience. At times, expectations were not clearly articulated. After considerable time investment across 7 rounds, the rejection feedback was vague and cited a lack of direct management experience with engineers from a specific region. This was surprising, and seemed like not the true reason. The relevance of nationality specific management experience was never clearly explained only until then rejection. Overall, while the team members were professional in communication, the process felt overly long, somewhat misaligned with the role’s scope, and the final decision criteria were unclear.