A practice prompt we wrote. No company or candidate report names it, so it carries no company tag.
How to answer
Candidates on Blind report down-leveled offers: one poster reported, in July 2026, a Google offer at L4 after targeting L5, and another, in May 2026, a down-leveled Google Cloud Applied AI FDE offer at L3. Source 1Google FDE AdvicePublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on BlindSource 2Google Cloud FDE or Adobe Applied AI SWEPublisherBlind (teamblind.com)Source typecandidate report on Blind The level can outweigh any change to base. Scale AI’s Senior and Staff Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering) postings, as of September 2026, list base ranges of $216,000 to $270,000 and $252,000 to $315,000, so no raise inside the Senior band passes $270,000. Source 3Senior Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)PublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job postingSource 4Staff Frontier Agents Engineer (Forward Deployed Engineering)PublisherScale AI (Greenhouse)Source typecompany job posting
Say it in this order.
- Open warm, and don’t decide on the call. “I want to make this work. I interviewed for staff, so before I respond I’d like to understand the level. Could you send the offer in writing, with the level and title?”
- Ask what evidence set the level. “Which rounds pointed to senior rather than staff, and on what signal?” If they can’t share that, ask for the gap in ladder terms: “What would a staff hire have shown that I didn’t?”
- Ask what would change it. Another interview at the higher level, a call with the hiring manager, a reference who saw your scope?
- Offer evidence the loop didn’t see. Two examples of your scope, in the company’s own ladder words, that the recruiter can forward. If you hold an offer or a current title at the higher level, say so, with the title and scope.
- Settle level before money. If they offer more base instead, say: “I’d like to settle the level first, then look at the package.”
- If the level holds, ask for what offsets it: a written promotion review date with the criteria, the top of the band, or a sign-on. Then decide.
The trap is relitigating the interviews. The recruiter can’t overrule them; they can only carry new evidence back.
Follow-ups
What the interviewer may ask next, once your first answer is on the table.
- The hiring committee has decided. The level is final. What now?
- We can’t change the level, but we can move the base up. Does that work?
- Do you have other offers, and at what level?
Where answers go wrong
- Arguing with the verdict (“my system design round went well”), which asks the recruiter to overrule interviewers they can’t overrule, instead of giving them new evidence to take back.
- Taking a bigger base at the lower level without asking what the level controls there, such as the band ceiling, the scope you’re given and when you can next be promoted.
Answer this in two minutes
Write the answer you would say out loud. The clock starts with your first word.
Illustrative answer about a fictional project
In this example I interviewed for a staff forward deployed engineer role, and the recruiter calls to say the offer is at senior. “Thank you, and I want to make this work.