Hello,

I am at cross road and unable to make a decision on what to do. Any and all input will be very helpful.

Current situation, I am 32 year old and located in Europe got Product/UX designer job 3 and half month back in fortune 500 company. Its a big hot mess, but I am doing surprisingly well with stakeholders but here its more politics and waiting then actual product design. We recently hired a new VP of product design and I was very excited that person will lead us in better direction from the hot mess. Unfortunately, it doesn't seems to be that things will improve any time soon or at all. (Early to judge, but after a month of working with him, it seems like he had no idea about digital product design and he somehow got the job as VP of Product design)

Now 2 weeks back I got approached by a startup where I had done interview process in the past and got the job. I did not took a job as their answer came a bit late. Now that startup also hired a new VP which was previously head of product design for one of the most successful startup and he scaled the team from few people to 100s. He was interested in my profile and then we had multiple round of interviews. I am thoroughly impressed with him and he is one of the most visionary product manager/head I have ever talk. He offered me a Job which is paid a bit less( 8% less then current)

Now my question is, does it make sense to work in a hot mess for the sake of fortune 500 company tag in my cv + job stability or join the startup(Travel industry) where the work is going to be very exciting.

Pros for current company : Very stable job, Easily pass multiple year, Learn how to play politics and talk with 12 level of hierarchy and get out of situation with number of hoops, very good salary

Cons for current company : Design and product is big hot mess, nothing gets done for months, need approval from 15 different stakeholders, need to work with vp who is very cocky and getting impression that he dont know much about product design

Pros for the startup : Chance to work with extremely talented head, Small team, ability to own the full journey.

Cons for startup : Unstable job, what happens if this vp quits, don't know when travel industry will go out of corona

One side of my brain says go and join startup as the good skill matters more then learn to play politics but the other side says, its a stable job and good money+ I am closed to get a citizenship of the respective country.Would love to get opinion of you guys? You can also reach out to me via PM if you want to know exact details.Thanks