The first stage of the interview was a behavioral interview and focused mainly on behavioral questions around difficult management situations. They asked about a time I made a mistake as a manager, a time I had to put someone on a PIP, and a time I received difficult feedback. I answered with real examples and explained what I learned from those experiences. However, my impression was that they were expecting more polished answers rather than genuine examples of mistakes and growth. Based on discussions, the interviewers also seemed to prefer a more traditional management style, focused on difficult conversations and rigid communication and leading, rather than modern leadership approaches such as empathy, coaching, and servant leadership. Overall, I felt there was a mismatch between my leadership style and what they were looking for. They recommended me to apply for staff engineer role instead. Based on this interview and the software developer reviews on glassdoor regarding their engineering managers (i.e. micromanagement) I'd have recommended them the same.