I applied for the Principal Front-End Software Engineer position advertised here on Glassdoor. Someone from Rivian HR contacted me to discuss the role and timeline. She then sent an invitation for a phone screening with their senior software engineer, for the Staff Front-End Software Engineer position. At the time, I thought this was an honest mistake.

I responded that they might have made an error with the invitation. The role I applied for was the Principal Front-End Software Engineer position, but the invitation was for the Staff Front-End Software Engineer position. I asked them to update the invitation and to inform the interviewer about the correct role, in case she needed to adjust her interview process for it.

The HR representative responded that the hiring manager was not looking for a Principal Front-End Software Engineer but for Staff Front-End Software Engineers. He would determine the "leveling" after the interview process. I then realized it had not been a mistake at all, but rather an elaborate scheme. I am sure they simply moved on to the next candidate in search of desperation, albeit unapologetically.

Why did they not advertise for Staff Engineers only, which is what they wanted in the first place? Why advertise for one role but deceptively present candidates with an interview process for a different role?

They wanted to obtain the services of a principal engineer at the price of a staff engineer. It is a bait-and-switch tactic.

Many people running these corporations are felons without criminal records to match. They are even worse because they do not need to be fraudulent to those over whom they hold immense power and influence, yet they devise ways to be just so, such that they remain above the law.