I am in the Midwest but have worked for a big tech company for 13 years(this company is at the top of my industry and a decade plus here typically means you are a star). Looking to leave my big tech company and find something new.

Found two roles at a biomedical company. One was for a principal role and the other was a sr principal role. Both have same responsibilities. At my current company, a principal would be roughly 15 years of experience and sr principal would be 20 years.

So I figured I’d apply for the principal role.

My current base pay is $155k. The principal role has a range of 66-160. So I figured that would be fine, just at the higher end. Sr principal was 130-230. My recruiter asked what my base salary expectations were and I said I currently make $155k and I want to remain at $155k for base. (The application asked for total comp expectations and I put $200k, because that’s my current total comp.) That didn’t seem to shut down the interview.…