Ask HN: What's the closest to hands-on job for a software engineer?

You could look into product manager. On that role you are a lot closer to the actual problem that is being solved and success is measured in increased revenue, lowering expenses, customer satisfaction, etc.

It’s also a plus when a PM has some technical awareness since it makes the life of the engineer a lot easier (i.e. not having to explain to the PM how adding a new field in a form is not a “small change” and it would take db migration, models/tests changes, ui design, etc…)

Good luck!

Guess a variation of that could work, I reckon it's gonna be some Excel work and analysis, holding presentations etc. Maybe if there's a product responsibility without too much administration stuff.

Consider working for an oil/gas company and getting the inside track on different roles in the pipeline area.

Software for marine science applications.