I recently got invited to a "stay interview" with my skip manager.

I recently got invited to a "stay interview" with my skip manager.

This is... interesting, because I am pretty unhappy in my current position. People shifted roles at the beginning of the year, including the head of the department, who replaced someone else who left the company, and in the process I lost some autonomy. This was not due to my work history. I've gotten great feedback on my performance reviews, and have risen fairly quickly through the ranks. It was more just due to the nature of our business.

I've started to be more active about looking elsewhere, both inside the org I'm in (I've talked with heads of other departments about the possibility of moving over) and outside the org. I'm assuming this has gotten back to her, which is why she scheduled the stay interview.

My question is: how honest should I be? The company is fairly transparent, but at the same time, I'm at a level that is high enough where upward mobility is limited (they just don't need that many senior managers!) so the reality is that there just isn't anywhere for me to go. They just moved me to a new client, I think to placate me (they said it was more strategic work, which I do want) but now I'll be reporting into someone at my level, with no direct reports, which feels like a second step down. I need to keep this job until something better comes along. Do I just say I'm happy and keep looking, given that I really don't think there's much else they can do? Or should I be more honest?