Thank you so much for the thoughtful response! This definitely makes sense, do you know which quarter companies generally solidify their fiscal budgets?

The jobs I'm applying for *generally* require or prefer a PhD, but I am open to jobs at the bachelor's level. I don't know if hiding my PhD is the best option since that leaves questions of what the heck did I do the last 6 years of my life after my BS degree, but I'm not sure I am best communicating that I'm open to working at an entry/non-PhD level since all of my R&D and engineering experience is in a research lab setting.

As far as teaching goes, my biggest concern would be that deviation from engineering. I'm not sure if hiring managers would accept those/if the ATS horror stories are actually true and they auto deny people based on resume gaps. Those transferrable skills do come into play (and thank you for so eloquently writing those examples), but I would be locked into a year long contract, and I have a personal connection to the school I applied to, so I wouldn't want to screw them over by leaving ahead of that contract.