5 Best Cannabis Jobs That Don’t Require Industry Experience

Among the big winners of the recent election was the cannabis industry. On November 3rd, Americans in Arizona, Montana, New Jersey, and South Dakota voted to legalized the possession of marijuana. In addition, voters in Mississippi and South Dakota approved the legalization of medical cannabis.

Even before the election, the cannabis sector was on the rise. Cannabinol (CBD), a natural compound found in cannabis, had been trending, as studies continued to show that it relieves anxiety, and successfully treats epilepsy, insomnia, postpartum depression, and other health conditions.

Thanks to the CBD boom, and the continued legislation legalizing cannabis, careers in the industry have never been more exciting. And in addition to traditional cannabis-related jobs such as compliance officer and cultivation manager—which require you to have extensive knowledge of the industry—there are now many other professions that allow you to work in this budding industry without specific industry knowledge. Here are five.

1. Community relations professional

Carving out a favorable image in the public’s eyes is critical for any company but is even more important for a CBD distributor. Although the stigma around the cannabis industry is changing, there are many people (potential customers) out there whose minds still need to be changed. So, if you’re an experienced PR professional, you could be the mind behind a CBD company’s image. You could be the one that maintains the right impression and creates a brand that lures new customers who might have been skeptical about the cannabis industry.

Two great job openings: community relations manager at Wyld and media relations pitching contractor at CMW Media.

2. Marketing manager

While PR professionals promote and preserve a company's brand, marketing professionals establishing a company’s loyal customer base. A marketing manager/executive is responsible for developing tactics and strategies to boost its brand awareness, drive quality traffic, increase engagement, and deploy marketing campaigns from initiation to finalizing and then execution. The good news is if you work in marketing, you don't need cannabis or CBD experience to land a job in the industry. Having marketing experience in other industries such as tech, fashion, food, or financial services is good enough to land yourself a top job in this trending new industry.

Two great job openings: marketing manager at Simplifya and marketing manager at Curaleaf.

3. Dispensary CFO/COO

Even though you don’t need prior experience in the cannabis industry for this position, you do need some specific experience: the major condition of this job is that you have experience in the field of accounting—ideally, you’re a certified public accountant. As a dispensary CFO or COO, you’ll be responsible for managing an organization’s accounting department and cultivation facility operations, and supervising reporting in the finance department. You’ll also oversee processing, distribution, harvesting, and budgets. A dispensary COO or CFO works for a medical marijuana dispensary that’s state-licensed.

Two great job openings: CFO of BlissCo and CFO of an unnamed company (the listing was posted by the cannabis recruiter CannabizTeam).

4. Extraction lab manager

An extraction lab manager’s primary responsibility is to produce high throughput cannabis products such as butter, shatter, wax, and crumble through the process of hydrocarbon extraction. Serviceable companies look for candidates who have prior experience with color and refinement remediation for their extraction lab manager roles. Such a position requires operating extraction equipment, cleaning and maintaining lab equipment, and developing and maintaining SOP (standard operating procedure) documents while sustaining safety regulations. Depending on your level of experience, you might be allowed to innovate new formulations and procedures for new products, and research current techniques and trends in extraction products and technology.

Two great job openings: lab and production supervisor at Green Thumb Industries, and extraction lab manager at an unnamed company (listed by CannabizTeam).

5. Finance analyst

A finance analyst prepares and distributes monthly and quarterly financial statements and expense reports, which typically include commentary and analysis. An analyst working in the finance department needs to have a vast knowledge of cost drivers to support supply chain and manufacturing decision making. As a finance analyst in a cannabis company, you’ll maintain and create financial models, and work closely with post-harvest, grow, supply chain, and manufacturing teams to acquire reporting requirements. Since different companies have different operational processes, you might also have to come to terms with year-end audit planning, designing, and implementing SOX-grade controls. This is to ensure compliance with financial and accounting requirements.

Two great job openings: finance operations analyst at Canopy Growth and finance reporting manager at Pure Sunfarms.

Ross is a cannabis enthusiast and loves to share his thoughts about the industry for different blogs. He is currently working with Outreach Crayon, and working hard to bring the right information about the mostly-misunderstood CBD industry and CBD-related products.