Assessing career option trade offs as a new working mom
I’m a new working mom with a young child (and aspirations to have more) and trying to decide between three very different career paths - stay in consulting, transition to a leadership role at my client, or work at a government adjacent agency. My husband works a 9-5 job, our child is in daycare, and we don’t have much of a village since we don’t live by family.
I’m less focused on exact compensation and more on long-term sustainability, stress load, and growth trajectory.
My priorities are flexibility and presence with a young child, not stagnating professionally as AI and tech evolve, and doing meaningful work alongside strong peers to think through complex work decisions.
How would you think about this tradeoff?
Especially curious how people weigh:
• stability vs career growth during early parenting years
• long-term burnout risk vs compensation upside
• importance of peer support vs autonomy in leadership roles
More details on options below for context!
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Option 1: Consulting PM (current role)
• Compensation: baseline. Approaching cap at current level unless I promote which comes with jump step in responsibilities on top of an already full workload
• PTO: \~30+ days total (vacation + holidays + floating days)
• Work model: Dependent on client. Currently working from home but could be hybrid or fully onsite if client demands it. One client at a time, current project goes through end of year.
• Reality: workload and expectations vary heavily by client; periods of high flexibility followed by intense demand. Every client feels like starting a new job. Utilization metric pressure.
Pros:
• Strong peer network and collaboration
• High flexibility when staffed well
• Exposure to varied industries, projects, and technologies. Trying to stay ahead of AI curve with company leadership
• 16 week maternity leave (other two options are 12 weeks)
Cons:
• High uncertainty in staffing and workload
• Career growth increasingly tied to leadership + sales expectations
• Even at current level, workload feels consistently full
• Not much room to “opt out” of increased responsibility if promoted
• company is going through a bit of an identity crisis
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Option 2: State Government adjacent agency (PM)
• Compensation: similar or higher than current, with structured raises
• PTO: highest of all options (\~40 days including holidays)
• Work model: 3 days onsite, 2 remote. Commute is 40-60 min depending on traffic. Free parking and flexibility on when you come and go.
• Retirement: defined benefit pension along with standard 401k.
• Prior manager is working there and asked me to apply. We’d be working together every day and he can vouch for work life balance, people, and culture. Fully expecting slower work pace compared to consulting based on managers experience. PMO is not mature so there’s opportunity to build it out bring best practices, and interface with C-Suite
Pros:
• Highest stability and predictability
• Strong PTO and benefits
• Clear separation between work and home life based on culture that was described to me
• Lower overall stress / fewer fire drills
Cons:
• risk of sower career progression
• Less exposure to cutting-edge tech / AI-driven work
• Commute adds daily time constraint
• potential lower ceiling for earnings growth
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Option 3: Leadership role at current client building new IT PMO function
• Compensation: significantly higher in than current role
• PTO: \~20 days (lower than both other options initially)
• Work model: 1 day onsite, otherwise remote
• Role: building and leading a new IT PMO organization (hiring, process design, governance, strategy). Doing what I’m doing now but as an FTE and not consultant. Trusted in the organization but there are some tough stakeholders who can create a weird culture vibe. Have had decent balance as a consultant but wonder if that will shift as an FTE without capped hours on a contract. Expecting the potential need to be more available even after hours. Global company working across time zones.
Pros:
• Highest earning potential by a meaningful margin
• High autonomy and ownership
• Opportunity to build a function from scratch, doing what I already started.
• Strong hybrid flexibility overall
Cons:
• Less built-in peer-level PM support (I would be the “expert” in many situations)
• High ambiguity—still defining structure and expectations
• Risk of scope creep and becoming escalation point for everything
• Leadership load without strong existing PM scaffolding
• difficult internal stakeholders who id be regularly working with.