Am I making the right decision? (Plus bonus negotiation questions)

It seems to me that neither you nor your husband have a viable future at your existing institution. Your husband has never been offered a continuing contract. And from what you've said, it's clear that your department are not taking your application for the postdoc seriously. "You're top of the list, but we want to re-advertise to make sure the process is transparent" is passive-aggressive academic speak for "we are currently assembling the usual shortlist of personal friends of the HOD, former PhD students of personal friends at other institutions, and flashy Oxbridge types with impressive degrees but no actual research programme whom we will inevitably consider for this position over you." For all intents and purposes, the postdoc "opportunity" doesn't exist as a viable option for you. They've already made their position clear by saying no to you in the first round. General rule of thumb in academia: if you ever get mixed messages like this about a new internal position or a contract extension ("oh, everyone in the department thinks you're great, and we're all on your side, but let's just see what the final application pool looks like, shall we?"), RUN. You have a golden opportunity in one of the world's best cities (a five-year contract with the possibility of permanency is gold in this academic economy), and if Ashlyth is right that this is UWS we're talking about, it has a rapidly rising research profile and you will not suffer professionally by association with it.

I think the cost of living in New City is rather higher than Old City (if I'm reading you correctly) so the higher salary won't necessarily go as far one might expect. That aside, your position at Old University sounds precarious. The committee chair is unenthusiastic about you, so your long-term future isn't really secure there. And your husband has been trying to find a permanent place at Old University for some years, so he's probably exhausted all current possibilities; New University will at least offer the chance of finding something more stable. I'd go with New University and its New Opportunities. Best of luck, whatever you do.

The postdoc isn't viable. You were their top choice, and they reran the search for someone else. They know you have an actual real offer, and they have no intention of speeding up the search. You have the chance at a high paying job for 5 years. And a school that is really into increasing its research profile is actually quite capable of making a visible difference in that time.

The alternative doesn't sound like a viable option. That's kind of offensive that they were like, "You're OK but we want to see if we can find someone better." I absolutely wouldn't count on it and I wouldn't mention it, personally. This is obviously a big decision and it sounds like you've discussed it with your husband, which would be my first advice. I think you need to think about how happy you are at your current university and how long you reasonably hope to stay there, or how long you hope to stay at your current job. Also, do you sense your current gig could be up soon? If you want your next job to be something that lasts a few years and not forever, it's less risky. But are you looking to start a family and settle down at some point? If you absolutely love your current job, I'd say don't go -- money is never worth leaving a situation where you are really happy, since you never know what a new job/city will feel like -- but since you're interviewing around, seems like you're keen to start a next chapter. Double the money is compelling, but is that enough to cover your husband's salary he won't be making anymore? I realize this offer is from a lower-ranked university, but if they are poaching good people and investing a lot of money, you may come away with some good talking points. "Increased x by x," "initiated new x" etc. It sounds like there is room for you to gather some accomplishments for yourself. Do you think you'll be able to play a role in expanding and introducing some big new stuff for the university? And if it's a new team, you may be able to help shape things and take a leadership role -- do you think you'll be able to take on more responsibility and ownership for the research than you can now? Sometimes being a big fish in a small pond isn't so bad (although it sounds more like it's just an empty pond and they are bringing in some big fish!). People often start threads asking about moving to certain cities. I have moved many times in my life and honestly, cities always take me by surprise. Cities I was excited to move to because I thought they'd be great were the ones I hated. Cities that seemed dumpy on one end of the spectrum or overwhelming on the other end were awesome. Cities I thought were fun to visit, I hated living in and vice versa. And even though I loved some cities and hated others, when I really think about how happy I was, nothing affected my happiness in each city more than how much I liked my job/co-workers and my social life. The city is a bit secondary and it's something you can't predict anyway. Focus on the job, your career and your gut feeling... Gut feeling is big. Make sure you visit the new job, meet the people, see the facilities, etc. See how it feels.

Take the new job and try to grow their prestige with your contribution. This will NOT hurt your resume but in fact improve it. "Worked at top ten university for x years. Moved to 600th university and in x years based on projects xyz grew rankings to top 200 worldwide" If the latter doesn't happen that's the university's fault. If it DOES.... Hell that was all you. Take the new opportunity. The salary bump alone will place you further afield for future jobs and negotiations.

I say do it. You're getting double the pay and an offer that ensures at least five years of stability (with the possibility of more), and you get out of the postdoc cycle. Without knowing too specifically what your husband does, for twice your current wage he can probably can make do for another few months of spinning his wheels before he finds another way to fit in with the local science scene, figures out a way to collaborate long-distance, or just gets into another field entirely. If you're serious about wanting into academia, and your career is going well while your husband's is (relatively) stalled, I reckon it's time he puts his aside and helps you get into the next part of your career.

I'm not in academia, but I've known a lot of researchers. Almost all have had to travel for work, and all academic couples have had to make hard decisions in order to live near each other. Your husband will be making a sacrifice to move to New City, though given that he's only had short term contracts for 10 years, I can't see that it'll be a huge career sacrifice. Funding in science isn't looking like it'll improve anytime soon. Don't do a post doc with someone that doesn't want you!

If the city is the one I'm thinking it is, isn't it a possibility there might turn out to be *more* employment opportunities there for your husband than your current location, not less?

If you want a viable academic career, I think you need to take the offered position and your husband needs to suck it up and make the best of it as a trailing spouse. Honestly, it's about that simple and binary, because modern academic life almost always means first giving up control over where you live and being willing to deal with the uncertainty of that, and second finding your own imperfect solution to the two body problem. I wouldn't use the post doc as a negotiation tool, since it's obviously so much worse than the offered position (on status as well as salary) -- negotiate the new position on its own merits. The current place is clearly not all that excited about you staying, so a chance to leave is a good thing and should be embraced. Even if you got the post doc renewed, with only two offers in four years that is a fairly high-risk option. World-wide rankings usually aren't as important as national or regional rankings, but something to remember is that there are a lot more low-ranked schools than top-ten places, and they all need faculty. If that becomes your niche, embrace it and get good at it, rather than always thinking about how you would rather be at Harvard (or its Australian equivalent). We all know that person, and it's not dignified. Five years with a chance of continuation is only one year less security than a US tenure track position, for what that's worth (and even then you are usually on a two or three year contract during the pre-tenure time, and those get cancelled with some regularity -- people exaggerate the job security). That's long enough to develop your research, see if the new place is a good fit, and to relax a little. It's also long enough for your husband to use the support of your higher salary to look for work in his field or, if that fails, to look at his other options. And of course, congratulations on the offer!