This was a rather bizarre scenario, it very much seems like this company doesn't know what it wants. After conducting all interviews in August (which interrupts everyone's holiday's), they were shrilled with me every step of the way, following up with another interview request before I could even get my thank you email out.
Most of the company seemed like great people, but lead by a man who doesn't seem to tolerate any type of dissent at all. The final interview with the top leader was a mix of the exact same questions I had already answered in prior interview and a bunch of random questions that didn't have anything to do with anything professionally or personally relevant.
After being talked up by the second to last interview, and them elevating my application from the principle consultant to the open manager position, I was rather shocked when they came back with a call stating that they would have never considered me for the manager, and that they have filled the principle position with someone else and asked if I would be willing to come back in for yet another interview with the brand new hire once they were onboarded for a junior role under them. I was so stunned that I just agreed to whatever to get that painfully awkward phone call over.
After that they ghosted me without any further contact. The whole thing was very unprofessional and am glad I didn't end up there.
Some forewarnings: First, they refuse to negotiate on salary or benefits. They have a "career" track which means the only way to increase your compensation is a promotion. Second, they close for Christmas for two weeks, and force you burn your vacation days on those two weeks, whether you want to take it off or not, and then try to gaslight you into thinking its a benefit to have 5-7 days of your vacation allotment taken away when its convenient for the company. Third, they pay lip service to remote work, but don't count on every being able to use it. They are an old school, dying breed of management that doesn't think you're working unless they can see you.