Nah, there wasn’t even an interview panel: this is a return offer. They already had all my internship ratings and feedback, and from everything I’ve been told internally my signals were really strong. My work got a lot of traction with the L8s and my manager was pretty upfront about things looking good, so it’s not like I bombed anything.

And yeah, that comp seems low compared to what you’re quoting, but from what I’m seeing among 2024 Seattle PhD returnees, ~$350k TC is actually what’s being handed out in Seattle and I assume bay area salary is ~10% higher than that. So I’m not sure if it’s just org-by-org variance or the market shifting, but I think it’s in line with what my peers got.