This organisation seems to be doing a decent job at Computer Vision, AI related work etc. A member from the TA team called and set up multiple calls with different leaders across the globe. They said they need an experienced Engineering Leader.
They want to increase the Engineering Org from 150 to 300 engineers in the next 1-2 years. They are a publicly listed Canadian org.
Round 1: A generic conversation with a member of the HR team - very generic questions.
Round 2: Call with a Managing Director who is a Senior most leader: A reasonable person and knows what he needs in an Engineering leader. He gave a good insight about the role.
Round 3: Call with a Product Leader: This was the best interview out of all the interviews. He is based out of the SF Bay Area, he enquired a lot of things about my style of collaboration, execution and leadership. Very engaging and enlightening conversation.
Round 4: Call with another Senior Leader on the Operations side based out of Dublin, Ireland: This also was a good conversation overall. Was very engaging, and this leader explained a lot of things about the organisation, culture as well as the role.
Round 5: The final round with a HR Director who had recently joined. Even this person was a pleasure to interact with.
After all these rounds, the person from the TA team said they would like to offer, took relevant details from me, and post that ghosted me saying they don’t know when they will be able to make a decision on this role. After 6 hours of interviews, this was a disappointment and also showcased how uncertain these organisations are with respect to Hiring. Specially at a Senior Leadership level.
The entire interview took around 6-7 weeks and finally, they decided to go with an internal candidate. It was a bit of disappointment, specially after spending significant number of hours.