The (initial) phone interview with the hiring staff member, it was good - until later, where the conversation about the role starts to really shift for the worst. First, the interview process was described as three parts - phone interview (this review), founders / engineers interview (to repeat describing work history etc, about yourself), and final interview. In the initial phone interview, there were several "red flags" from the hiring staff member's description of the role (and perspective of salary expectations). The first red flag that stood out, was at the end where we start discussing about salary expectations - I mentioned a higher salary figure, and (at one point), the interviewer did ask about "salary expectation flexibility" and said along the lines of "does it matter if you're a couple of hundred dollars lower" (yikes). The second red flag, is where the advertised role and requirements described, was a "jack-of-all-trades" role. The salary expectations topic with this red flag is understandably debatable with the candidate's work history & experience, but in my case, the experience that I will bring to this role does not align with their salary expectations at all. Besides more red flags, the last (big) red flag was after the follow up phone call (today, this is after the initial phone call last week). I had to cut the phone conversation short because I was no longer interested in progressing my application forward, and sent an email wishing them all the best. Next, I did receive an email reply (the [annual-salary] is an example), "Well that’s very odd as I said for a senior they can do [$200k] but you would need to interview to show them you’re at that senior level." - this statement was false, but I can't prove this with any written / recorded evidence (in email or Google Meet recordings). In conclusion, I chose to stand with my 10+ years of technical experience, leadership & professionalism, and the salary expectation that matches these factors - know your worth. I did not proceed further with the job application, stopped at the first interview stage. Some lessons learned, ask about the salary range of the role (if this matters to you the most - FYI, this role salary range was for $145k - $147k but claims to be able to aim higher), record your interviews when possible (on phone, Google Meet, Zoom etc), email correspondence more often (get the details in black-and-white) for documenting interview details, ask more questions about the interview process & always doubt / second-guess recruiters.