There was a phone screening and then 30 min interview with the manager. The interview went very well and the manager even mentioned that i was a great fit for the role. They probably had an internal candidate lined up- that’s what companies do nowadays. They interview external candidates just to put it in their records but end up hiring their own. So puzzled and disappointing that I wasn’t the candidate.

After I filled in the application, I had 3 phone/video interviews all scheduled within the same few days. I talked to one person who would directly supervise me (project manager), the director of the entire team, as well as an academic year intern currently doing my job.