Started off by a message on Indeed. Phone screen then first interview with a Systems Engineer and a senior leader who did not talk during the meeting at all. Meeting was totally led by the engineer, very friendly by the way, questions were fair, not very percise or to the point, nothing new, it all aimed to make sure that I do have the right skills for the job. A leadership role. Got a feedback within a day with a rejection from the position I already applied for which was OK I was ready to shake hands and move on. The wierd part that they offered me a totally different position, a purely technical junior role and with no responsibilities on the offchance that I might get promoted to a leadership role one day inside the organization at some point in the future. May be. A senior with almost a decade and a half of experience, why would I do that to myself? The audacity to present what they counter offered me was unprecedented, it was the exact opposite of what I was looking for, a massive step back, a huge dip that would hurt my career down the road. It’s like hitting a reset botton for my career for no reason other than the opportunity to join the organization. I have been leading successful teams for almost a decade and then take a sharp turn to start all over again for what? Because someone somewhere thinks so! Ridicilous! I totally understand the title deflation thing with the Big Tech firms, which is something people consider for the name of the comany and the prestige they get, totally understandable but not for local IT contracting firms. It raised eyebrows, were they trying to acquire top talent for cheap? Will never know! Their suggestion was rejected. It’s worth mentioning that the two people I met inside the organization were nice, decent and professional. Dealing with them was a pleasure.