What is the typical academic career path following a PhD in computer science?
From my experience, in the UK it tends to be one or two post doc positions and then on to a lectureship position. Comp Sci post docs here are usually between one and three years. 

I get where you're coming from. After my Comp Sci PhD I went into an industry software developer role and 90% of the work just felt mundane. I'm now working for a startup company, which is much more challenging and interesting since the focus is on innovation and creation. That might be worth looking into as it's becoming quite common to find startups sprouting from universities seeking to turn their research into products.