In my opinion the biggest differentiator in whether to work in Europe or USA is the number of children you have.<p>If you have zero children, USA is better than Europe. With one child, it becomes a toss-up. With two or more children, Europe becomes more and more favourable.<p>With every additional child in USA you add thousands of dollars per month of expenses. By contrast, every additional child in Europe usually adds only hundreds of dollars per month of expenses.<p>The extra income from USA gets swallowed up quickly once you have children.
Sounds like they might just want to try something new for the exploration of it, despite knowing they already have a better situation (except for the "new" factor, which can be compelling). Young and healthy and single is a better time to try and fail than older, less healthy, and with family responsibilities (though I'd argue it is healthier to take more responsibility for extended family unity, speaking as someone who has been away from mine for decades).
I’ve worked both in the EU and the US. Working in the US is 100% worth it, especially if you don’t have kids. It costs about 10k to move one’s belongings to Europe, including having people pack your stuff. If you don’t like living in the US, you can leave at any time for relatively little money. My experience is that the money is worth it given the relatively few strings attached.
<i>They also advertise "unlimited paid time off" but your manager has to approve it. So realistically I am not gonna get much vacation.</i><p>More to the point, it is strong indication that the management at this "well funded and very reputable" company is basically incompetent as far as "managing down" is concerned -- and/or suffers greatly from cognitive dissonance.<p>Not that that means they shouldn't take the job, of course. Just that they should have no illusions as to what that 300k salary is really paying for, in this particular case.<p>Which is: for your willingness to keep your mouth shut and pretend you aren't being lied to. And to be slowly but incrementally pushed to an early grave by the 12+ hour work days, and the damage to their mental health and relationships from not being able to make use of a reasonable PTO throughout the year.<p>But again, no judgements here. If that's an arrangement you think you can put with for a year or two before justly quitting this company and finding another one that offers similar salary but with reasonably sane work conditions -- go for it.