half sales / half product mng : where to?

there was a friend of mine (EU based) who was wondering whether to take a job which is an hybrid role dealing with the product development in the equity derivatives space (coming up with new ideas and the whole life cycle of the product) with a mix of sales/post sales entailing the network of the bank. He likes the roles as it'd be quite cushy with a decent salary and with lateral mobility on other products (FICC) though his old time interest was in the equity investing side of things (think L/S) and he is starting to develop his personal portfolio (GARP // medium term horizon), which he'll grow over time. we talked about what he could or could not do next and my understanding was:

1) unless the equity portfolio is profitable beyond belief, his chances of getting in the buy side in an equity research role is very limited.
2) relantionship manager in the private banking sector though it'd be a stretch given the shift in the clientele
3) equity derivatives sales? but then again the client management, albeit present, is not coupled with getting new clinets on board - a major problem even if my friend should get brilliant at sourcing ideas
4) maybe structuring? here the concern would be the lack of programming skills
5) lateral to product development on the AM side (new fund launches) and/or other products (FICC) // ETF // etc

I told him that 5) and 3) might be the most likely shots since 4) is doomed by the lack of technical skills and 1) would be troublesome to get in the door as modeling skills might be called into question. also, though to answer the : why getting on the technical side when you are on the commercial side?

what do you think?