There was one phone screen and three interviews with managers & another designer. The phone screen was rapid and straightforward. The 1st interview with the product manager went well. I walked through their company website to find potential UX improvements and answered the questions about the experience of establishing a style guide. The 2nd interview was with a designer, and the interview process was almost the same as the 1st round. I thought it went well, too. However, the recruiter told me they decided to move forward with another candidate in the 3rd round. The designer gave the feedback, and he commented that I lack user research experience. During the interview, the designer didn't review my works to learn the breadth and depth of my UX/UI design knowledge and problem-solving approaches. He only asked questions about user research and questions to test my personality. I would be curious to understand how he concluded. If this is a user research role, please hire a user researcher instead of a senior UX/UI designer. Besides the awkward interview experience, the recruiter was still impressed that he quickly moved things forward and kept things transparent.