I’m Danish and I work in the public sector, so factor that into my anecdotal experience. We would take it serious, some people get into high positions quickly. We would ask you about it out of interest and we would also ask you about why you stepped down/took a lower position, but I don’t think anyone would go into an interview not believing you.

That’s not my experience at least. Sometimes you’ll get a candidate where it turns out that they aren’t as good at something as they made it sound, but I can’t recall a single time someone ever doubted a candidate before the person made us have a reason to doubt them.

I was a director around that age and didn't notice anyone questioning it. I do tend to look older than I am, so that may have helped. Maybe start using "A Touch of Grey" in your hair :D

In all seriousness, no business owner wakes up thinking they want to hire another expensive middle manager. Filling a director role means that a business decided to pay a significant salary for management of something important to the business. That means something on a resume, and is totally worth keeping there to showcase your skills.

If they have doubts, they'll ask you about it and you'll have the opportunity to clarify what the role entailed (which should be clearly conveyed in your resume anyways). Companies use titles differently so all they're trying to do is match up what you actually did to the corresponding level in their own org.

> But is it taken seriously?

As long as you had substantive experience and can show it, then yes. If it was a title only, then probably not.