I joined a new company 18 months ago to lead a small team. Six months into my time there, my Director was fired and I agreed to take on their role in addition to my own while they hired a replacement. Since then, they have hired and fired two additional Directors, and a third was hired but never started. I have now been doing the “interim role” for a full year, and have once again been asked to continue in this capacity while they determine next steps. I applied for the Director role myself but was told I don’t have the required experience.
This has made it extremely challenging to do my job; in an interim role I don’t have formal authority to make key decisions or establish a long-term strategy, and I do not have a manager who can support me to do so. I am paid well and would like to stay at the company, but am extremely frustrated by the stonewalling.
I want to give them an ultimatum to either give me the job or I will leave, but am worried this will backfire and the current job market for my industry isn’t great. Should I just suck it up, quiet quit, or go nuclear?