Small L/S HF to LO research to large HF?

Hi guys

I have 3yrs of experience on the buyside as an equity analyst (last 2yrs on a small $80M L/S HF, where I don’t see the willingness of the PM to grow). I’m thinking to join a large LO (think Fidelity, Capital Group, T Rowe) to spend a couple of years as a buyside research associate and then try to get back in a larger L/S HF.

Reasons are:

• My current HF shows me little upside. I won’t be given a book for now and the PM is not intentioned to grow the size (as per initial plan). Performance has been mediocre, and I don’t believe in the strategy.
• I lack deep modeling experience that I want to build. True that I spent 3yrs on the buyside, but the investment styles I worked on have been not technically demanding to the point of building detailed DCFs for every position (on the contrary) and assess quantitatively upside/downside/sizing of positions.
• I would cover 2/3 sectors in more depth. That’s what the position I’ve been interviewing for requires. Which I find fantastic as I can develop a more complete understanding of the space vs having been covering a broad universe (from US to Asia, almost every sector). In addition, I'm genuinely interested in those sectors I would cover and it's where several HFs I looked at are active.
• I love the HF space and want to come back with a stronger experience. For as little as I have worked in it (that is 2yrs), I found it to be the place I want to be in.

I would surely miss the flexibility of my current job. But if that comes with better chances to join a more structured HF later, I welcome it.

Would you advise me to do it or do you think it’s not the best choice and I should rather find another seat in a large HF directly or else? I’m not in a large financial center so I should change location (which would be great for me), but until now I've seen little success in that effort.

Every opinion and suggestion is welcomed