Everything went well with the first 3 steps of the process. There was a code challenge, a video call, and finally half a day of interviews in their office in Berlin. Having received positive feedback, we talked about salary expectations at the very end of the half day of interviews, where I shared with them my current salary and explicitly said that I wasn't interested in anything less than that. At that point, I asked them when should I expect a response from them, since I had another job offer to consider and give an answer to. They told me that as soon as I was done with the interview with the CEO (the last step) and if all feedback was positive, they would send me the job proposal and assured me that they could certainly meet my expectations. Having this is mind, being confident that the last step would go well too, and excited to work on such a nice environment and meaningful product, I denied my other offer to pursue this one. The final step, the interview with the CEO also went well and I received positive feedback. Then came the proposal. They offered me a salary lower than my current salary (and way lower than the other offer that I declined in favor of this one) with a re-negotiation after 6 months of trial period. It's perhaps worth mentioning that I have 6 years of experience in the field. I replied that I couldn't accept the offer as it would represent a step back in my career salary-wise. They replied back, completely inflexible with the proposal, asking me to reconsider while explicitly framing my decision as being solely based on money. It was frustrating to say the least. After having had such a nice impression from everyone involved, being so excited to join the team and having declined another better paying offer, I was being asked to downgrade my salary for the sake of working on something meaningful. Having been 100% clear regarding my salary expectations right from the start, having had the confirmation (by e-mail) from their side that those expectations could certainly be met, but above all having a family to look after, this wasn't something I was willing to accept.