I ended up in Data Science and ML, my dissertation was primarily analytics related so it was a natural fit. The role was initially staffed primarily by ex-physi

I ended up in Data Science and ML, my dissertation was primarily analytics related so it was a natural fit. The role was initially staffed primarily by ex-physicists disillusioned with academia to begin with. If you are set on a permanent research position at least in the US lab system those are in my experience even more competitive than faculty positions as they come with the luxury of not having to teach. A post-doctoral position is quite possible but you have to consider you will like be early 40's by the time you finish and competing against late twenties, early 30's and post-docs are typically renewed at 3-4 years and are not permanent positions either, depending on the school and country they may not qualify for the same benefits in the university system. By all means you should do what you feel, you are talking to a guy who left his job and now spends his time trying to develop a video game so I know a thing or two about jumping off the veranda - sometimes you just take a leap of faith and see what happens.