Yes, existing devs often have a vested interest in rejecting candidates, especially those hires who are more senior than them, and whose job they might have asp

Yes, existing devs often have a vested interest in rejecting candidates, especially those hires who are more senior than them, and whose job they might have aspired to fill as an internal promotion. The architect might pass interviews for tech strategy, systems engineering, innovation and mentoring, but be failed by the senior devs on some detailed low-level tech question, which just happens to keep that architect slot open for them in the future - even if it means more workload in the short term.