I'm a military veteran; early on I pigeon-holed my precious life and training and focused on the needs of the markets and the roles I sought out.

I found this productive from a learning perspective, to prevent bias and trying to shoehorn a style that may not be optimal for the work.

Now after nearly a decade of work I have been able to bridge the gap for your alleged 'missing middle'.

This is where I diverge from your perspective; I take the personal growth and skill perspective to navigating my career. That is to say, I focus on solving the problems I want, researching what skills are most effective with an open mind that I may bring something novel from my past, and grow from there.

I think if you search for the PERFECT role leveraging your skills, you may wait a long time. Find a problem--artistic, commercial, or otherwise stimulating--that you would be willing to pursue in your free time. For me: this was video game development, however I forked my development from most paradigms circa 2003, and been reinventing many wheels for the sake of deeper knowledge.

You may be lucky to find a role which leverages everything you may find your personal skills are, but if a role isnt, dont discounts the principles it took to succeed at something as dema ding as a PhD.

I hope you find this perspective valuable!