Technical Architect vs. Senior Project Manager

Technical Architect vs. Senior Project Manager: "Technical Architect vs. Senior Project Manager"

Technical Architect vs. Senior Project Manager

I R2Ied in January. After talking to several companies and declining some low-ball offers, I now have two good offers. Both are from Indian Offshore Consulting companies (like TCS, Wipro, etc.). The money is not great, but not bad either.

One of the companies is giving a Senior Technical Architect Role with 50% focus on architecture across multiple projects and 50% focus on presales activities. Travel will be 40-50% so they say. This job has more technical activities. For now, there will be zero people reporting to me.

The other company is offering a Senior Project Manager position with Account Management for multiple projects. This is a pure PM role with 20% technical activities. There will be anywhere from 5 to 50 people in my team depending on the projects handled.

I have so far been involved more on the technical architecture side in the US. I am in that confused state on whether to continue on the technical side (which I like), or to switch over to Management (which I may not like that much).

Any suggestions from the group as to what may be better long term ? Are there career prospects if you stay technical for long ? What if I want to start something on my own, or be an Independent Contractor/Consultant later ? Would staying in the technical area be helpful, or would project mgmt be better ?

Any words of wisdom will be helpful.