The interviewer was nice and asked good questions. That said, it’s rare to be interviewed by the person you’d be replacing if you were to get the role. It’s even more rare for that person to feel compelled by the company to do free work for them by offering to help the person who replaces them - because they don’t have a real data team.
Lastly, it is absolutely abysmally rare to believe you can recruit for this role at a bargain if it is clearly fundamental to the business, requires intense cognitive energy, and is the sole data role at the company. During the interview when I was very sincerely told about the stakes of the role, I stated my ideal salary expectation was £55k instead of the £45k suggested for the company because of the extent of the workload. Apparently the newly appointed CEO immediately followed up with the recruiter (a guy who was insanely anxious to fill the role, God knows what the client was putting him through behind the scenes) saying “she wants £55k so no!”
For what it’s worth I don’t think my performance in the interview was incredible, I stumbled on some questions. But the fact that the CEO was more concerned about getting this role (which is practically 2-3 jobs in 1) at a bargain and getting mad at typical negotiation tactics instead of appointing the right person who can do the job well is laughable.
The recruiter (bless him) was desperately asking me if I could reduce my salary expectations again. Clearly the client was putting him through crap and he just wanted to fill the role. And I wanted to help. But at that point, I realised even £55k or more wouldn’t be worth the headache of working at what appears to be a very messily run organisation.
