Got contacted by a recruiter for a Senior software position at a small engineering firm. He said that even though I didn't have managerial experience, they were mainly looking for a person with exceptional technical expertise, which I have. After about 7 interviews, they let me know that management went with somebody less technical, but with more managerial experience, since they could “learn on the job.”
I was instead offered to go in as at junior/mid level and “prove myself;” promising that if everything went well, I'd be promoted in less than a year. Yeah, right…
I have a friend that works there and apparently the rest of the team was pissed. Many of my potential co-workers were vouching for me, saying they needed somebody who could hit the ground running and actually help with the work.
Now they have another middle manager that has little understanding of what they do and will inevitably need to be carried for a long time. But I'm sure the person's experience creating schedules and tracking progress will be extremely useful.