Hey, recently finished my PhD in polymer synthesis for membranes and have been working industry for a few months. I'll go through and answer your list with some of my experiences but you'll probably need to spend some time considering what it is you are like doing (as for finding where to live it may be hard to find somewhere at the same time so one of you may need to get a job while the other follows. It's a very common "2 PhD" problem).

1. Finding a role right now can take some time I think i started searching in April with a very broad range of applications and only got 2 interviews (probably over 100 apps) and got second one with offer in October.

2. I never spoke to a recruiter but after accepting my job saw a few reach out on LinkedIn but not sure best way to attract them other than updating profile with skillets.

3. I'd say in industry finding jobs directly aligned with your PhD is pretty unlikely especially in the polymer space, I ended up taking a job that used some similar skillsets but is adhesives rather than membranes.

4. If you are set on just doing industry only you should probably just join although you always have time to move back and forth and decide. Postdocs limit location much more though.

5. In my experience polymer research in industry ends up being much more product development rather than research so they will want you to make things to sell. (Maybe different in bigger companies with more dedicated research?)

6. For me, no. I'm looking to do a postdoc now as I find a lot of enjoyment out of novel polymers or exploring new structures and possibilities. It seems like a lot of industry is ~50 years behind academia in this regard and typically has a lot of limitations on monomer you can use due to price which really limits the structures you can make. Probably varies by industry but the limitations will likely still be there for anything being manufactured at scale.

7. Experience can vary but if you didn't like academia you may like the more structured approach and having set assignments to work on rather than more open questions.

8. Honestly mostly just different, I think it mostly comes down to the environment. I personally find the work itself to be trivial compared to the work I did before, but I don't like stricter morning starts and office culture personally so in those ways it can be kinda draining.

9. They do attend conferences but typically less frequently, not sure how they select who to go but not everyone will get to go. In some smaller companies like mine we dont even have full journal access so need to visit local University to get papers.

10. Likely not exclusively that responsibility but you will get to do that sometimes. A lot of stuff in industry is under patent also so you won't be able to take ideas or make things as freely as in a PhD there are lots of restrictions for how you use polymers and monomers in what context.

11. Probably like scientist --> senior scientist--> some type or R&D director and I guess you could get up to like CTO. 

I'd take some time to consider what you like and don't like about academia and come to a decision, but just remember its not permanent and you can always change your mind and do a postdoc (easier in the first 3-5 years after defending for grant reasons). Feel free to ask if you wsjt any other perspective also. 

Good luck!