The recruitment and leadership team are highly unprofessional when it comes to transparency and respecting a candidate's time. I went through an absolutely time-wasting 5-round technical interview loop for an SDE role. From the very first HR screening call, I was explicitly clear about my current CTC and expectations. I was explicitly assured multiple times that budget was not an issue and that they 'never lose candidates over compensation reasons.'
Despite clearing every single technical round with positive feedback, management completely backtracked during the offer stage. They presented a disrespectful lowball offer that amounted to a single-digit hike on my current compensation. For a company that loudly publicizes its funding, their actual compensation strategy for high-caliber engineers in India is incredibly cheap. They will happily waste weeks of your time under false pretenses hoping you will despondently accept a lowball at the finish line.
Advice to Management: Stop lying to candidates about your budget during the initial screens. If your financial runway or Indian entity salary bands cannot support market rates for specialized talent, state that upfront instead of burning hours of engineering time on deceptive hiring practices.