The hiring process felt split-brained throughout.

I was contacted by a recruiter, then ghosted for two months before they randomly re-engaged as if nothing had happened.

There was also ongoing confusion about whether the role was leadership or an individual contributor position.

The organization seemed to be led by a Distinguished Engineer rather than a dedicated engineering leader, which may explain the disorganization.

I received a message from the recruiter stating that I "hit it out of the park" and had an "extremely strong interview packet," only to receive a rejection email the next day with no explanation.

The actual interviews included:

• A screen with someone who wasn't the hiring manager.
• A system design question.
• An ML skills Q&A.
• A technical deep dive.
• A chat with an engineering lead.

The interviews were generally easy, but the overall process was quite slow.

Design an ML-driven solution to a recommendation problem.