Structured Finance vs M&A

Im about to make a pretty large career leap and I’m weighing up two great but very different opportunities. Curious to hear what you all think!

My background: 2.5 yr accounting, 1.5 yr buyside. Chartered accountant.

Currently weighing up two opportunities:

1-Large global Bank, European team, Structured Finance - better WLB - Average pay - great team -great network (virtue of being a large bank) -one of the best SF teams in the city, particularly in Energy

2-Boutique M&A advisor, U.K. team but a global firm - high pay (base is 50% higher than option 1) - arguably better positioning for PE - worse WLB, I’ve been told it’s horrendous

So far my biggest hesitation with the option 2 is that going into an M&A role as an associate with such limited experience, especially given the current economic environment feels incredibly risky from a job security standpoint.

However on the flip side, I worry that structured finance may limit my career growth over the long term and ability to move to PE relative to M&A.

I’d really appreciate your thoughts!