Cogito Software Engineer interview questions

Spoke with recruiter then hiring manager along with a coding assignment. Invited on site and had a mix of technical and behavioral questions. Quick interview process. I was told I did well technically but received feedback that I was "too junior" and that they needed someone to "hit the ground running." I honestly thought they could be have been much more transparent about the seniority of the engineer they needed. It seemed like they were trying to hire a senior/staff level engineer for the price of a mid level engineer.