I applied online and it led to two phone screening interviews - one with a recruiter and one with a hiring manager and one multiple person interview. Sometimes knowing why the position is open is an important thing to figure out, but I don't recommend asking this in the interview (as I did). They are being be selective in their interviews, however there are some other things occurring - which I'm not clear on, both the people I interviewed with and the person that left the role would not reveal why the position was open. This impacted my interviewing, as I've had bad experiences in the past with hidden elephants in the room that no one wants to talk about. My guess is that something bad happened and no one wants to talk about it. Also with the different people involved in the process each with their own agenda (some which has not relation to the job) my guess is the position is likely be open for a LONG time. Good luck!