I think it is up to personal ethics.  I have recently been applying to jobs at a major pharmaceutical company even though they do animal testing on the site.  This does skeeve me out but at the same time they are making great strides in AIDS research and treatment.  If it was for something frivolous I couldnt contemplate it, but for huge world impact, life saving research?  Yeah Im ok with it.  Plus that area is quite secure and I would in no way be near it.

So maybe this puts me at odds with some vegans, but to me, its needed and worthwhile research, thus an acceptable company to work for.

I agree with most of what's here.  Ideally, yeah, we could pick and choose our nice little vegan jobs, but society isn't amenable to that, especially in a poor economy.  And you need to have a job.

If you can encourage vegan products in your job, even better!  In that case, it would be more advantageous in the big picture of veganism to take it than not. 

You see I am constantly dealing with a similar issue. I am a classically trained chef. Went to Le Cordon Bleu and all that good stuff. I live in an area now with no vegan restaurants and I hold a good paying job at a country club. The drawback is all the meat. My boss... well to put it lightly is a bitch... she loves to play head games and is constantly trying to force feed crap down my throat which of coarse I refuse. So, yeah I constantly hate the fact that work in this non-vegan environment. Yet, the economy sucks and what am I to do to make a living? I do have dreams of opening a vegan restaurant or bakery but that would have to be when I have the $45,000 in student loans payed off which is currently looking like never. So how I compromise is I slyly try to bring vegan stuff to work like making a special vegan soup as a special or preparing a special vegan meal for a vegetarian at a party. It sucks at work...but I try to look at the positives...I have a job in an economy where a lot of people cant say that.

I've had to work in some very non-veg situations in the past.  Without being too clear on what your new job might be, I don't know how much contact you'll have to have with non-veg products/materials, but just make sure you think seriously yourself before you decide on how YOU are going to feel about pushing a non-vegan agenda when your work requires it, because ultimately you need to be ok within yourself with what you're doing each day.
Everyone's advice here is pretty solid. If you can be happy in what you do, and strive to make a difference, then anyone who would choose to judge you for that isn't worth listening to.
Good luck!

Not to repeat everyone else, but I think it all boils down to whether you can accept what you're doing and be able to separate your work like from your vegan life.  I just finished working a job where I was doing food prep for a restaurant, which means that I was handling meat and cheese all day.  It disgusted me, but I needed the money, so I was able to grit my teeth and get through it until I was able to afford to quit.

Yeah, most of the responses here are pretty realistic and "on-the-money" (pun intended).

Pattycakex puts it the most succinctly. I think that ability to separate is essential. Any of us needing work right now aren't much able to "pick-and-choose" to any significant degree; any jobs are hard to come by in most fields and in most parts of the country; our dismal economy precludes other options, like it or not.

In better times, we may have slightly better choices we can make. As it stands, we still need to stay afloat and pay the bills, feed the kids, keep a roof over our heads etc. Being able to find acceptance of the circumstances we face is important. It sounds as if no one here would ever allow their ethics to be compromised and that's for the good. On the other hand, having them "challenged" in these ways is sadly, something we do have to work with. A less-than-perfect solution to a far from perfect world and so be it I guess.

I totally agree in that sometimes work is work. I'm a freelance graphic artist and have had to take jobs creating websites for meat heavy restaurants. I didn't really enjoy helping promote their products, and color correcting tons of closeup pictures of corned beef and fish sandwiches made me totally nauseous, but I needed the work. I also figured I might be able to convince them to get a few vegetarian, if not vegan options on their menu, but they turned out to be such crappy clients, I didn't even bother.  ::)

I used to work at a few grocery stores and Starbucks. Each job involved promoting non-veganness, but there's always a way to sneak it in. At Trader Joe's I'd sample vegan stuff (we get to choose what we sample when there's no Fearless Flyer out), and if a customer asked for a recommendation for an item, I'd always recommend a vegan one (hey, that's all I had tried, anyway). At Starbucks, customers unfamiliar with drinks/a particular drink often ask how you (the employee) like it, and so I'd respond honestly "with soy". I got to sample stuff there too, and would sample some awesome vegan drink (green tea latte with soy!!)

Now I'm in veterinary school, and in classes with people who plan to go into agricultural work (working for the government doing inspections, or being the veterinarian for a farm/slaughterhouse/whatnot), work with horses, and probably research (no one has mentioned this yet, but quite a few people had already been working in labs). I have to learn all that ag work as a part of the curriculum even if I have no intention of ever specializing in large animal stuff. Oh, and we're going to do some clinical stuff at the L.A. zoo at some point. Anyway, there's always the decision of how to practice medicine without promoting animal exploitation - would I be helping or hurting if I practiced exotic animal medicine? I might be helping the individual exotic animals who otherwise often receive poor or no veterinary care, but wouldn't I also be promoting having exotic animals by that being my business?
I guess that falls more in the field of animal rights than specifically veganism. On the other hand, there's always supplies that are not vegan - catgut and super leather gloves (for handling fractious cats).
I guess my point is there's often a way you can promote veganism/AR in your profession, but it's hard to get away from non-veganness with any profession, even one intended to help animals!