4 Types of Cannabis Industry Jobs

By Allison Watman

Looking to start a career in the marijuana industry?

Cannabis jobs are exploding: Marijuana is medically legal in 33 states and recreationally legal in 11 states and Washington, D.C. By the end of 2020, 10 more states will vote on whether to legalize, further expanding the industry.

Many have compared it to the internet industry in the early 2000s, with many opportunities for major growth and development on the horizon.

Want to get your foot in the door now, but aren’t sure which marijuana job is right for you? There’s something for everyone, whether your skills are in farming, management, science, marketing, accounting, retail, or even yoga!

Check out our list of promising cannabis careers, below, and see for yourself where you fit in.

Cannabis farm jobs

These positions deal with producing and distributing the marijuana plant itself, through growing, packaging, or extracting. For these jobs, you may find yourself working on a farm, in a greenhouse, a warehouse, or in a lab.

Bud trimmer

A great entry level position, with lots of opportunities for growth (pun intended), many people start their marijuana career as a Bud Trimmer. Working on the cultivation site, Bud Trimmers are responsible for handling plants, trimming leaves, and removing buds.

Average salary range: $12-13 per hour

Duties:

Harvest marijuana plants by cutting the flowers from their stems
Weigh, label, package buds
Adhere to local and state laws and regulations related to marijuana production

Harvest crew

Harvest crew may trim buds, but are also responsible for the post-harvest production. They can perform various duties, from keeping warehouses organized, sanitized, and supplied, to performing inspections, to packaging products, to cataloging strains.

Average salary range: $12-17

Duties:

Process plants efficiently, accurately filing, packaging, and labeling
Assure compliance with state/local regulations
Keep all production areas and equipment clean and sanitized
Perform inspections to ensure the product meets quality standards
Manage scheduling and organization

Cultivation agent

A Cultivation Agent is responsible for providing cultivation for cannabis gardens and maintaining plant production and health. They carry out day-to-day plant care, including watering, pruning, harvesting and trimming.

Average salary range: $17-20 an hour

Duties:

Maintain quality control measures
Prune, trim, and analyze plant health
Maintain organization, cleanliness and efficiency of production area
Measure and mix nutrient and plant applications

Grow technician

Grow technicians have horticulture and pest management expertise, and use that expertise to support the cultivation process. You must have previous experience in horticulture, entomology, or plant pathology, and having your Pesticide Applicator Certification is desirable.

Average Salary Range: $40,000-50,000

Duties:

Participate in potting, trimming/de-leafing, fertilizing, and watering cannabis plants
Apply pesticides, cleaning products, and beneficial organisms
Document and track plant production and application of cleaning products/pesticides

Master grower

This position requires years of growing experience in the legal cannabis industry and/or a degree in horticulture. A Master Grower manages a team of growers, overseeing the daily requirements of the growing process, and also deals with law enforcement and compliance inspectors.

Average Salary Range: $85,000-145,000 a year.

Duties:

Managing warehouses and their grow lights
Growing tasks such as: transplanting, feeding, watering, trimming
Training supervisors
Managing a warehouse crew
Managing schedules, organization, and records

Cannabis extraction technician

A competitive and high-paying job, a Cannabis Extraction Technician must have a chemistry background (many workers have PHDs) and laboratory experience. An extractor is responsible for extracting THC, CBD, and other cannabinoids, creating cannabis concentrates and products through chemical processes in a lab.

Average salary range: $75,000 – 125,000 per year

Duties:

Safely convert cannabis materials into high-quality extractions
Make sure all extraction procedures comply with regulations
Ensure compliance and accuracy involving all product tracking and product security
Perform quality assurance testing and conduct visual inspections

Dispensary jobs

These dispensary jobs take place in and around the dispensary, where customers peruse and purchase cannabis products. These positions look a lot like other retail positions, but with a marijuana focus!

Budtender

This entry level cannabis job is a great way to start out in the industry. Budtenders help direct customers to appropriate products, answer their questions, work the cash register, and check IDs and Medical Cards. They should have a knowledge of marijuana products and their uses, and have excellent customer service skills.

Average Salary Range: $12.50 to $18 an hour

Duties:

Provide customer service
Restock inventory
Operate point of sales accurately
Understand and adhere to guidelines for retail sales

Dispensary manager

Dispensary Managers are in charge of the day-to-day operations of the dispensary: they manage employees, oversee sales, interact with inspectors and vendors, and generally keep the dispensary running efficiently. This is a great position for someone with prior management experience in retail or prior experience in pharmacology.

Average Salary Range: $35,000 to $90,000

Duties:

Manage personnel hiring and training
Oversee inventory purchasing, pricing, sale, and tracking of products
Have an in-depth understanding of products and services, policies and procedures, industry changes and regulations
Communicate with higher levels of management and marketing department

Retail inventory manager

A retail inventory manager is in charge of keeping track of inventory and sales at a dispensary. They are highly organized, accurate, and detail oriented, creating schedules, tracking purchasing, and making sure the dispensary is appropriately stocked.

Average Salary Range: $35,000-60,000

Duties:

Receive and quality control all inventory
Organize inventory in an efficient manner that maximizes profit
Inspect products for defects and damages
Create and adhere to schedules

Dispensary COO or CFO

If you are an experienced accountant, you may be qualified to be a chief operating officer (COO) or chief financial officer (CFO) who manages a dispensary’s accounting department. These are senior executives who are responsible for managing the financial actions of a company, through tracking cash flow, and analyzing and correcting financial actions.

Average Salary Range: $125,000

Duties:

Managing and reporting on finances
Overseeing harvesting, processing, and distribution
Analyzing operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs
Developing and monitoring budgets

Cannabis and CBD company jobs

This is a way to jump in on the marijuana industry without coming in direct contact with the plants. Not everyone can grow or sell the plants themselves, and big brands or large companies need people to tackle the accounting, marketing, sales, and social media. These jobs likely require a degree and some prior experience in the field.

Accountant

An accountant is responsible for keeping track of the finances, payroll, taxes, budgets, etc, much like an accountant in any other industry. Cannabis is regulated differently than any other industry, so you will need to understand marijuana specific laws and taxes.

Average salary range: $40,000 and up

Duties:

Manage existing clients, ensuring their needs are met and invoices are paid on-time
Manage accounts
Manage billing / invoicing for existing clients
Maintains accurate records of account interactions and transactions
Prepare and present quotes / proposals and monthly reports.

Sales

If you are a go-getter, with a winning personality and excellent communication and organization skills (and with a passion for marijuana products), the sales side of the cannabis industry might be for you!. Salespeople promote and sell a product/brand to dispensaries or individuals, and must be highly knowledgeable about the product they represent. Bonus: many sales jobs can be done from home.

Average Salary Range: $20,000 – 50,000 and up, may be based on commissions

Duties:

Plan and perform sales calls, appointments, and site visits.
Create conversations and build relationships with clients
Keep an accurate log of schedules, meetings, and clients
Develop and execute sales strategy
Identify new business opportunities

Marketing

If you have experience in the marketing field, you can be successful in cannabis marketing. The goals of the job are to bring awareness to the brand you represent, through events, promotional campaigns, content development, website design, social media, and more.

Average Salary Range: $20,000-50,000 per year

Duties:

Create and implement direct marketing communications
Design marketing materials and promotional campaigns
Manage social media platforms and creating content
Work on event and in-store marketing strategies
Measure and report social growth, website traffic, and brand perception

Social media

Sometimes, the social media side of marketing is so huge, it requires its own position. It involves being on top of current digital technologies, and having skills in communication, photography, videography, writing, data analysis, and customer service. As a social media strategist, you not only run all social media accounts, but create an in-depth strategy to drive traffic and perception, create content, engage with followers, and collect data.

Average Salary Range: $20,000-50,000

Duties:

Administer Social Media Accounts
Generate, edit, publish and share engaging content that is in line with the brand voice and style
Increase followers, comments and likes
Communicate with followers, respond quickly, and monitor reviews
Provide progress reports and data

Creative cannabis jobs

Are you someone who doesn’t want to be confined behind a desk or behind a counter? Would you rather work for yourself, than for a company? These creative cannabis jobs might be for you!

Cannabis wellness coach

Part life coach, part cannabis expert…Cannabis coaches are health coaches that use cannabis as a tool to help people reach their health goals.

Many enter the field because they have experience with marijuana managing their chronic illness or anxiety/depression, helping them get off their prescription meds, or entering remission after cancer, and want to help others experience the same.

There are certification programs that are highly recommended, because as a cannabis wellness coach you must have extensive knowledge of medical issues and how to treat them, as well as skills in wellness coaching and holistic therapies.

Average salary range: $40,000-60,000

Duties:

Prepare personalized plans for holistic treatment
Educate patients on the products that will best treat their condition
Teach patients how to make infusions and edibles
Educate others about the benefits of CBD and cannabis and it’s various strains
Coach in lifestyle changes to help attain life goals

Cannabis yoga instructor

If you’re an avid yoga practitioner, you probably already know that cannabis and yoga are a perfect pair. Cannabis yoga instructors mindfully combine the two to help others enhance consciousness and enter flow states. Yoga certification and prior experience is essential, and there are also cannabis yoga teacher training programs to expand your yoga practice.

Average Salary Range: $12-50 an hour

Duties:

Implement safe practices and meet needs of individual students
Instruct on correct form and alternative Yoga poses
Create a welcoming class environment and build authentic relationship with participants
Have a deep knowledge of marijuana strains, its effect on health, and how to combine marijuana with the yoga practice

Cannabis copywriter

A cannabis copywriter is someone with a cannabis focus, who uses the written word to market a product or brand, in order to increase brand awareness and to persuade an audience. Cannabis copywriters help marijuana companies gain visibility and maximise sales through blog content, landing pages, product descriptions, and website copy.

Here’s an example of a company who specializes in cannabis copywriting.

Average Salary Range: $30,000-75,000

Duties:

Write and proofread compelling, on-brand copy
Be able to write copy for websites, print marketing materials, product descriptions, and more
Edit and proofread to ensure that the text speaks to the target audience, is grammatically correct, and has the appropriate brand voice
Use SEO optimized language

Cannabis product tester and reviewer

Yes, this is a real job (though hard to come by)! Cannabis product testers do more than just smoke weed: they must have an extensive knowledge of marijuana, have excellent written/verbal communication skills, and be comfortable in front of a camera and on social media sites.

If you are lucky enough to score this job, you will test products, write about your experience, record everything on video, and provide an in depth recounting of your experience to educate readers and viewers on the effectiveness of the product.

Average Salary Range: $30,000-50,000

Duties:

Test marijuana products
Film “unboxing” videos, including the experience and the review, with excellent and engaging communication skills
Write reviews of products with in depth explanations of the experience, noting how products differ from each other
Educate readers/viewers on effectiveness of products
Must be physically fit and healthy, in order to participate in cannabis tests regularly

Marijuana edibles chef

If you already have experience as a chef or baker, incorporating cannabis into your cooking is the logical next step! Being a marijuana edibles chef takes an understanding of how to infuse marijuana into food in tasty ways, and in quantities that are legal and enjoyable. Opportunities for additional work: blogging about your recipes and cooking techniques and catering marijuana themed events… the possibilities are wide open!

Average Salary Range: $50,000-100,000

Duties:

Have significant experience and training in traditional cooking/ baking
Develop recipes of infused products
Comply with all federal and state regulations pertaining to food handling/production
Run a kitchen and manage staff
Supervise operation of food preparation

Cannabis delivery person

Work for apps like Eaze, Budly, or Getnugg to deliver marijuana products from licensed retailers to consumers. Apps like these usually exist in places like California or Colorado, where marijuana is fully legalized.These apps are like Instacart for cannabis, except that you technically work for the retailer, not the app itself.

Average Salary Range: $15-20 per hour

Duties:

Efficiently and safely deliver cannabis products from retailer to consumer
Be able to manage your time well
Must have vehicle, valid driver’s license, valid insurance, and clean driving record

Website developer

Dispensaries, marijuana companies, and marijuana related apps are popping up all over the place, and they all need functional websites. If you have a background in website design, communications, or digital media, those skills are very marketable in the cannabis industry right now.

Average Salary Range: $40,000-100,000

Duties: