Oddly enough, I may soon be facing a similar choice:
1) Project Architect in a firm that is fully into Revit, but no BIM Management role (at least to get in the door)
2) Project Architect/production in a firm that is using vanilla AutoCAD, but talking about purchasing Revit and maybe having me develop their Revit standards and help train their staff (effectively a BIM Manager, but that title hasn't been discussed)

Beyond the basic potentional positions, the first company is likely to offer less salary than the second, which may or may not play into the equation. The interesting thing is I am currently doing contract work for both firms in their offices, so I have been able to get a sense of the personalities I'd be working with.

I'm not going to give you advice ... sorry - I haven't figured that out yet. But I would like to propose some questions for consideration:
a) How important is the salary (and benefits package) to you?
b) Do you have the opportunity to get a sense of each company's "personality"? (Can you interview potential co-workers?)
c) Do have a particular career position you ultimately want to get to? i.e. do you want to be an Architect or a BIM Manager (or both)?
d) If you go with the BIM Manager position, will you continue the path to licensure (where are you on that path: just exams, or still need to finish experience/IDP?)
e) If you go with the PM position, will it include BIM training/management responsibilities as well?

I got licensed 4 years ago, so that's not a factor in my case, but the main thing I've struggled with is whether I want to manage projects or manage CAD/BIM. I've come to the realization that what I ultimately want is to be a BIM Manager. Because I don't yet have a strong in Revit, I can't chase that at a firm that is fully into it because they already have staff with much more knowledge/experience. But if I took the PA position in that firm, I know I can demonstrate interest and skills over time as I learn from their depth of knowledge and hopefully transition to their BIM staff. It'd be a no-brainer if the second firm hadn't broached the subject of starting the transition to Revit ... I had already decided that I'd be willing to accept a lower salary to have a full-time job working in Revit. But the opportunity to get into Revit at the ground level is what I've been waiting for for years, so now I'm back to wondering what I'll do if/when one of the companies offers me a full-time position. Do I take the first offer? Or potentially decline an offer on the slim chance my ideal position will be offered by the other company?

Summary: the biggest question is "what is my (your) ultimate goal"? Which position(s) will get me(you) there?

Option 2 sounds about right for me to take. Room for growth and job-security, and I always love tackling a challenge. You can get the company up to speed with Option 1 pretty quickly actually.

Anyways, not giving you advice, just saying which one sounds like the route I'd take.

Option #1 with pre-appointment review of their existing processes w/ in-contract/interview agreement of my recommended changes and programme for their implementation.

I think for both people in the thread who are facing multiple opportunities, its not a question of which job offer sounds better: Its a question of which career do you want?

Certainly, the expectations of any job vary from organization to organization, but being a full time BIM Manager isnt close to being a full time Project Manager or Project Architect. Not to say one is better than the other, they are just two entirely different careers. On the one hand, being a Project Manager or Project Architect in a firm that already HAS their BIM implementation done, can be a great way to one day jump in to being a BIM Manager: There is way more to it than most people realize (if you are doing it right, but thats just my personal opinion) and i think a lot of firms and a lot of the "reputation" BIM has for being extremely difficult, or looking ugly, or being a budget sinkhole, has to do with people jumping in to leading a BIM Implementation without knowing a lot about it. Using production software every day (regardless of manufacturer) is much different than implementing and supporting it every day. In addition to that, i think any good BIM Manager (keep in mind, this is my opinion only), has worked on a decent amount of projects, and learned the ins and outs of the entire process from start to finish, to be able to articulate whats value adding, and whats not, so they can construct the compromises that will be necessary when different people in their future offices disagree over how things should be done. That sort of understanding comes from working on projects, for a while.

Gordon and i were just joking about Microsoft Office, the other day. Obviously most of us can probably use it. We probably use it all week. But *implementing* it well, is an entirely different animal.

So the first question is:

1. Which do you want to be? An architect, or a BIM Manager?
2. For whichever one you want to be, does it make sense to make that jump right now? Even if you want to be a BIM Manager, there could still be a lot of value in working more as an architect using Revit.

Jm2c.

The way I look at jobs these days is as resume-building material for the job I ultimately want, so you have to figure out what that job is. Like Aaron said, do you want to be an architect of a BIM manager? They both sound like great options, with a lot of opportunity for personal growth and development. When you update your resume for your next job, which of these is going to make you a more appealing candidate?

Are you familiar with point clouds & Navis? Going in to that role with no knowledge of how they work could be trouble. If you are upfront about it and they are willing to work with you as you get up-to-speed it will be a lot better for everyone than if they throw you to the wolves and then get upset when you can't perform to the level they are expecting.

I personally would go this route IF there was some BIM Manager duties in it as well. I like working on projects and enjoy the project management process to a point (I want someone with more authority above me involved as well for when things go south.) Being able to get the firm up and running in Revit has more intrinsic value to me at the moment.

I'd be hesitant about the second position simply because talking about using Revit doesn't mean they will and you could get stuck using CAD with no way out which would SUCK. If they really do want to move towards it and are committed then it isn't a bad option but I would want that in my contract in some form.

Good luck to both of you though!

Aaron you are so insightful.