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I found this company that advertises a team lead position in a software development team. It says they are looking for a person "to lead a team of developers in developing products for their company". But that's pretty much all it says. Then the job description talks about the company and its clients.

I researched the company and all I could find was what technologies they use and who their clients are. Nothing more about the position itself.

I have the technical skills in the technologies they are using, and have been in the position of leading teams before, so I could apply, but the job description says nothing about the skills, the responsibilities, what's expected, etc.

I can obviously apply and take it from there. They either ignore me or contact me, and in the latter case I can ask about it. But I might not like the description once I get more information and may refuse to even go for an interview. So basically I say "I'm interested" by applying, but then I say "no thanks" once I find out more and without even accepting an interview. I find that weird.

I could ask for more details about the job without applying, but again, once I find out more I might not like the job and again it's a situation of "ah, that's how it is. Then pas". Again, weird.

So my question is "How do I ask more details about the job, and possibly refuse to apply once I know more, in a professional manner, and without making it weird?"

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How to contact company to ask more information about the job description?

Just send them an email or call them and ask for some more details about the position. If you cannot gather any additional information through those means then, yes, applying and possibly being interviewed would be the next best way to get more information. It is perfectly normal and recommended to ask questions about the description, company,...etc during an interview. Never forget that you are also interviewing the company.

As for the whole "weird" part of your question. There is nothing weird about passing on an opportunity once you have gathered more information. It is no different than a company interviewing you and then passing on you as a candidate after learning more information about you. This is a normal business practice for both candidates and employers.

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Just apply.

Unless it's a weird government position where there's up front forms to fill out, the first step for a software dev position is going to be someone, probably the hiring manager, having a half hour call with you to clarify details (yours and theirs). That's how you're going to get further information.

If someone were to contact me about "more information" about a position via some other channel, unless I already knew them I'd just schedule one of those screening calls to do it anyway, unless they are asking extremely specific questions ("Is this position remote, yes/no"), as an interactive discussion is the best way to express what a position's actually like to people and find out their concerns and questions, and it's more efficient that filling out an RFC for a given candidate who wants more info.

Saying "I'm not really interested in that" at the end of such a call is extremely customary and not "weird."

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How do I ask more details about the job, and possibly refuse to apply once I know more, in a professional manner, and without making it weird?

Call HR and ask for more information.

There's no need to "refuse" anything. Just don't apply if what you hear isn't appealing

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  • These days HR department's simply do both take calls from people who have not applied for jobs.
    – DJClayworth
    Jun 28, 2021 at 2:12
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Look for relevant people on LinkedIn and contact them.

This can be HR people, hiring managers, Talent Acquisition people, etc.

Approach them and say:

Hi. I saw the position of XYZ and this may be a good fit. I wanted to get some more information about the position, especially about ABC

Once you have that information it will be easier for you to decide if you like to apply or not. This is 110% legit to stop a process (that you even not started) if the information you got makes it not relevant for you.

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