I was contacted by an Orkes recruiter for a Product Manager position that was to report directly to the CPO. The process started with an initial HR-style screening, followed by multiple rounds including interviews with the CPO, CTO, CEO, Director of Engineering, a system design exercise with a developer, and other behavioral assessments. Unfortunately, the overall experience was quite disappointing. The process dragged on for nearly six months, largely due to lack of follow-up and coordination from the recruiting side. I often had to proactively check in or remind the recruiter to keep things moving. At one point, communication stopped altogether, and I only re-engaged with the team after directly reaching out to the CPO via LinkedIn. Another major concern was the lack of clarity about the role itself. There was no firm job description or defined scope throughout the process. Midway through, I was informed that the compensation would be reduced by about 10–15% because the “scope had changed,” yet no updated responsibilities or documentation were ever provided. This left me questioning whether the company knew what they were actually hiring for. Culturally, Orkes appears to be very engineering-centric. Most of the leadership and hiring team members seem to approach problems with a software engineer’s mindset, which made it challenging to have nuanced conversations about product strategy, user experience, and cross-functional collaboration. In the end, I was rejected over a brief call with the recruiter without any specific feedback from the hiring manager or leadership team. Overall takeaway: Orkes seems to be an early-stage company still figuring out its structure and hiring processes. While the technology and leadership backgrounds are impressive, the disorganization, lack of role clarity, and minimal communication make the interview experience frustrating for candidates, especially for non-engineering roles like Product Management.