Hi everyone.

I hope to get your advice on optimizing my next career move. Which would you choose if you were in my position? 1. Stay with Strategy Consulting (currently in OW/RB/ATK) and take 1-1.5 years to make Manager. 2. Move back to Operations Consulting as Senior Manager with Deloitte/EY/Accenture within the next few months?

To help you, my 2 main considerations in no particular order are: 1. Pay - Moving to Ops as Senior Manager would mean my pay will decline by 30% from what it is now. Based on limited sample size from Glassdoor, even making Director/Partner in Ops seems to pay 10% less than what i get now as Senior Strat Consultant. This is only based on basic pay. 2. Exit opportunities after 3-4 years - Work is equally interesting and fun in both Strat and Ops to me. There are 2 upsides to Option 1, which are the c-suite level of problem-solving and that projects are much shorter so I get to achieve more. The upside of Option 2 is the higher position and I get to have a say in BD and growing the practice (which I also enjoy). After 3 years, I will make Strat Manager with 1.5-2 years of experience (probably not yet a Strat Principal) in Option 1, or probably experienced Senior Manager or a new Director/Partner (if I'm lucky) in Option 2.

Some info about me: 1. Early 30s with 9 years of work experience in a few Southeast Asian countries. 2. Previously a manager in supply chain and operations with Deloitte/EY/Accenture. 3. Moved to OW/RB/ATK to pursue strategy consulting and have been in it for almost 2 years. New employer discounted around 4 years of my experience. 4. Decent performance track record and good relationship with Partners. 5. Ask me if you need more.

Thanks for reading, and hopefully for sharing your opinions!