See you already received some great advice. Agree, just brush up the resume and start applying. Tech is tough now, but should be temprorary, and anyway just start applying and see how they respond to your current or higher salary demend.

One important thing: from management and upwards, it’s always very political, this will not be radically different in any organization - if you want this path, you have to learn to navigate it. And if you e.g. start your own firm with 2 people, than you will have to deal with politics on your client’s side, with your publisher, industry regulator, etc.

I understand that when in a situation, it’s hard to realize, but you’re not in a terrible position based on the things you mentioned, and you can earn great money with the experience you already have at your current and other firms. If you think about switching, than just shop around with your CV, and see what is out there - it could easily happen that other places can offer the same money for less stress, or maybe after seeing how everyone would pay you 20% less you decide to stay. You will never know until you look around.