Middle Management with Good Pay or Interesting Engineering Work with a Pay Cut

Hi everyone, first post here. I'm currently in middle management at a large organisation. I worked my way up from a hands-on technical role, but I'm getting tired of people management — especially managing offshore teams.

The bigger concern is that my technical skills are getting rusty. I worry that in 5–10 years, if layoffs hit, I won't be competitive for roles at similar pay because my skills will be outdated, and to be honest, i am not good at middle management anyway. Growth also feels capped as the company has an offshore strategy to cut costs, so the local team keeps shrinking (No layoffs, but they simply won't backfill when people left). Having said that, from what i have seen in the past, things could swing back if the economy improves.

I have an opportunity to join a smaller firm for a hands-on engineering role in an area i had some experience in but keen to further grow into. The team seems great, the projects are cutting-edge in my area, and I'd be building local relationships again. The only downside is the pay: it's a meaningful step down from what I'm earning now.

Our financials are just ok, not great, not too bad. I have to pay for childcare and mortgage which only seems to go up.

I am in data science and advanced analytics.

Should i take the pay cut to do interesting work and keep my skills relevant, or stay put and ride it out?