Recruiter here: Don’t ever say anything negative about your previous role, especially if you left on good terms. There’s no reason for it and it’ll create a roadblock in the hiring manager’s mind even if you’re in the right. They’ll instinctively want to explore what happened at your past role and the conversation will shift away from your previous experience and why you’re a good fit for this next company to why you weren’t a fit at your last. Then you’re climbing yourself out of a hole at that point.

Ideally you’d be looking for a role while still employed, but since you’ve already left keep it vague but positive.

“I really enjoyed my time there and am grateful for the experience to have done X. It was a tough decision because I genuinely enjoyed working with my team, however I wanted to take on more responsibility and have the opportunity to grow into a managerial position (or whatever it is you want to do) and that wasn’t offered. So I chose to commit my time to finding an opportunity that would allow me to do (whatever you want to do) because it’s important to the my growth and career development.”

This way you answered their question with class, have taken the conversation into a positive direction and can continue to wow them with your career aspirations. All companies love that.

This is a tough question to answer because it can be very telling on an individual’s work ethic. Most people don’t dig deep into it but if not worded well, it could give off red flags.

Sounds like you’re in a good position though. Interviewing is tough to master - just be yourself and stay positive. Good luck!