This does indeed sound Kafkaesque. I haven't had to go through an interview process in many years now, and I'm not looking forward to it if I have to in the fut

This does indeed sound Kafkaesque. I haven't had to go through an interview process in many years now, and I'm not looking forward to it if I have to in the future. It does seem like the entire tech space has been invaded by MBAs who need to justify their positions by setting up these - often unnecessary - multi-tiered interviews. If it takes more than 3 interviews to hire someone, I think you're doing it wrong.