A recruiter found me through LinkedIn, then I got scheduled to a phone interview with the hiring manager.

The interview with the hiring manager went well, it wasn't technical but more like behavioral.

But it seems that the hiring manager wasn't able to make the hiring decision.

This shows that the decision making is located in the headquarters (Chandler, AZ) rather each subsidiary having its own decision making process.

Thus, I got scheduled to another phone interview with the hiring manager's boss.

The interview went ok, but it seems that the hiring manager's boss didn't seem to understand how New York works and that 1 hr commuting is normal in NY and that he was looking for a salary range lower than what I expected.

This shows the company should be called MicroCHEAP as it doesn't seem to want to even pay market price but to pay lower than market salary.

I have the impression that the hiring manager didn't have any decision making in the hiring process and more like listening to what HQ have to say about it...

What are your salary expectations?