Any serious system programming job would be two steps better than my current one.
I'd love to work at a quant trading firm.
They hire aggressively. That shouldn't be a problem. Although I will say which desk you work on makes a big difference in $$ you make.
Thing is I don't even know what options (if any) are realistic for me. I'm not good at leetcode, nor do I wish to be. I'd love to be involved on the strategy side, doing research on market behaviors, but obviously that's reserved for the best and brightest.