It helps that the culture/mentality is different from the start, but if you work for FAANG-like places or start-ups, it probably not hugely better. Vice versa, I'm sure you could find a more laid-back workplace in the US, might just be a bit rarer. To be honest, I've seen some coasters in FAANG-type places, too. The bigger the place, the more opportunity there is to slip through the cracks, but it's a risk. On the opposite end, in a smaller place your expertise goes further, so you might be able to get away with putting in less effort day-to-day. Plus fewer meetings.
In any case, and as other commenters have mentioned, the easiest path is to pick "boring" technology that still super valuable to the business, with a long shelf-life, but not sexy. You become proficient in it, maybe you already, don't mind working with it, and you're set.
There's still the tricky part of making it future-proof, but a lot of technology sticks around longer than you'd expect.