Focus on Growth or Job change

I’m at a crossroads in my career at a startup where I’ve grown from an intern to a respected full-time employee with 1.5 years of experience. I currently enjoy excellent pay (15-20% above FAANG standards), strong peer relationships, and the freedom to choose my projects. However, I’m facing two major challenges:

1. Management Issues:
   My manager lacks both technical and soft skills, which not only hinders efficient work but also shifts the focus from delivering real value to navigating office politics. This environment has lowered the overall motivation among my peers.

2. Lack of Mentorship:
   There’s no senior leader available from whom I can learn and grow professionally.

Given these issues, I’m considering two potential paths:

• Path 1: Stay at my current company, continue adding value, and leverage my strong internal reputation despite the challenges with management and mentorship.

• Path 2: Switch jobs to work under better management and in an environment with more mentorship, even though this would require me to spend significant time improving my interviewing skills and risking the loss of my established relationships.

P.S I'm very poor at interviewing and estimate that preparing to secure a comparable role matching my current compensation could take 4–6 months of full-time effort. This extensive prep time would temporarily reduce the value I provide to my current team, which concerns me.

There is no chance to switch internally. We have just one team.

Which path should I choose, considering the growth opportunities and the potential drawbacks?