Ask HN: Advice for a career that maximises earnings?

I've been in academia for the last 15 years and a change in life circumstances (wife has been diagnosed with a degenerative disease that will disable her slowly and completely over a 20 year period) means that I have to move towards making more money as she won't be able to work soon.

At this point, I DGAF about work satisfaction or being happy at work, I want to maximize my earnings so my family is able to survive. I have been doing research in OS level, kernel level and networking (down to hardware) fields, so I'm pretty employable as a systems guy. I've mostly done management in the last 3 years but have no issue getting back to being an IC. I am happy to go down the management route if it means more $$$.

What would be your advice given I want to stay in tech?