Quant researcher at prop/hedge vs data science at tech company?

About a month ago I started working towards getting a job as a quant researcher at a prop shop/hedge fund. For some background, I'm in my mid 30's and have a PhD in CS (game theory) and am a semi-notable professional gambler. Tier 1 but not target school, 4.0 GPA, some math/programming competition awards. Relevant projects include predictive modeling with AI/gen algs, Monte Carlo sims, equity modeling, and solving unsolved games. I've heard this is a great resume for places like SIG, Jane Street, DE Shaw, etc. so I'm planning to apply soon, but I'm currently shaking the cobwebs off and working through the interview questions (books & firm specific) before I apply.

Via a friend of a friend I likely have a data science job offer coming at a big company in tech/sports. The job is interesting, good benefits, the work culture and perks are cool and similar to those that I've heard from prop shops/FAANG. The major pros of this job are that it’s in my current city (which I like and it’s safer/less stressful to stay put) and work/life balance would be very good including being able to work from home sometime. The big con is that the salary may only be in the $125k-$150k range and no idea what the ceiling is but definitely far less than a finance career.

As for finance, it’s all about the interviews. I've seen many of the questions before but I'm rusty. I think recent target school PhDs or Putnam Fellow would crush me in a technical interview, but I'm able to or will be able to answer about 2/3 of the questions I see in books. To give you an idea of my comfort level:

I’m fine answering questions on basic probability, basic combinatorics, Bayes Theorem, dice rolling, coin flipping, deck of cards, population gender, scale weighing, geometry, and game strategy. Some specific problems I have no difficulties with include the birthday problem, Monty Hall problem, pirate game, Towers of Hanoi, World Series problem, and the broken stick problem.

I generally CAN’T do things involving calculus, differential equations, trigonometry, linear algebra, Markov chains, transcendentals, or complex numbers as it’s been too long and would take a massive study effort. There are tons of problems with the answer 1-1/e and while I can recognize them, I couldn’t explain the answer. Buffon’s Needle problem is outside my scope for example. Coding wise, I’m OK with most of the medium LeetCode problems. I can implement merge sort or a BST and know my big O pretty well but likely can’t come up with a snazzy dynamic programming algorithm on the fly. I don’t know anything about finance math like Black-Scholes but apparently that’s to be expected.

I’m really enthusiastic about the possibility of being a quant researcher at a prop shop/hedge fund but there are other important concerns such as my family. I’d hate to pass up on a $150k/year sure thing during a pandemic only to get rejected everywhere, be two more months without income, and forced to choose between even worse options.

The million dollar questions for me are how likely is it that I’ll be able to get a job as a quant researcher in finance, what would my likely salary offers be, and if I applied to a dozen firms today how long before I have an offer (if any)?

Any help, advice, or information is much appreciated, thank you.