In addition to hours it needs to be low stress. That doesn't necessarily mean unchallenging. To me low stress is: * Expectations are clear and are the actual

In addition to hours it needs to be low stress. That doesn't necessarily mean unchallenging. To me low stress is: * Expectations are clear and are the actual expectations. No seconding guessing what you need to do to impress the boss. * Expectations are realistic * You get a JD and the job actually matches it. Any additional duties are opt in and there is no pressure to do so and you can step down again if needed. * If you want to take on more and there is a role available to do so of course that can be negotiated. * PIPs are very rare. Only come out if say someone lied to get the job and cannot perform or are really really bad. For everything else talk like adults. * Fairly static teams. Team shuffles every year are tiring. * Static process. Process shake ups are tiring. * Time given for learning a new skill when needed. If you need 2 weeks off tasks to learn something properly you get it (this seemed to be more of a think in pre 2008 days) * Boss gets to know you and adapts things to your strengths for a win win. It is really about a culture of treating people like humans not cattle. Or pets > cattle to steal the old Devop's analogy and reverse it! I have given up hope in this industry through that any employer can provide this, and if they do for more than 12 months before a shake up that kills it. I think freelancing is probably better.