The interview sequence was a bit unusual. It was with Data Impact & Governance Team. Round 1 – Screening Interview: Two interviewers, focused on background, ML lifecycle, and MLOps fundamentals. It went smoothly and was conversational. Round 2 – Panel Interview: Another technical panel with similar scope (ML lifecycle, data governance). Reasonable conversation. Recruiter Call #1: After the earlier rounds, the recruiter asked for salary expectations. The posted range had a large gap—roughly $75–80K between the low and high end. I gave a number closer to the higher end, as aligned with my experience. Round 3 – Interview with Hiring Manager: The manager said he just came back from PTO and seemed disengaged and uninterested; unclear if this was due to budget or other internal factors. Round 4 – System Design Interview: Conducted roughly two weeks after the hiring manager interview. This was the most technical round, covering system design for ML pipelines, deployment patterns, and governance. It went well overall. Recruiter Call #2: The next day, I got another unscheduled morning call from the same recruiter asking for salary expectations again—apparently she had misplaced her notes. Outcome: After that, there was no communication for nearly two months, until a generic rejection email arrived.