Lead Cultivation Technician

Cannabis Cultivation Lead

Position Summary

The Cannabis Cultivation Lead is a highly skilled, hands-on technical cultivation position responsible for supporting the health, productivity, consistency, and physical operation of a commercial cannabis cultivation facility.

The Lead designation reflects the advanced technical knowledge, practical experience, judgment, and problem-solving ability expected of the position. The Cultivation Lead may work independently, collaboratively with cultivation staff, or provide technical direction when their expertise is required.

This position combines intermediate cannabis horticulture, commercial greenhouse/cultivation practices, irrigation and fertigation, integrated pest management, environmental management, facility systems, mechanical aptitude, and physical cultivation work. The ideal candidate understands both the plant and the infrastructure required to successfully grow it.

Because commercial cultivation facilities are dynamic environments, the Cultivation Lead must be comfortable moving between plant work, irrigation systems, equipment troubleshooting, facility maintenance, data collection, and physically demanding work as operational needs change.

Essential Duties and ResponsibilitiesCannabis Cultivation & Plant Health

• Perform and support all stages of cannabis cultivation, including propagation, vegetative growth, flowering, harvest preparation, and post-harvest transitions.
• Evaluate cannabis plants for overall health, vigor, nutritional status, irrigation response, pest pressure, disease symptoms, environmental stress, and developmental abnormalities.
• Understand cannabis morphology, physiology, growth patterns, photoperiod response, flowering development, and cultivar-specific differences.
• Apply advanced plant knowledge when making or recommending adjustments to irrigation, nutrition, environment, spacing, canopy management, and cultural practices.
• Perform plant training and canopy-management techniques including topping, pruning, defoliation, thinning, staking, trellising, and plant spacing.
• Recognize deficiencies, toxicities, nutrient antagonisms, pH-related problems, root-zone stress, overwatering, underwatering, and other common cultivation problems.
• Understand the relationship between root-zone conditions, substrate moisture, EC, pH, nutrient concentration, environmental conditions, and plant transpiration.
• Evaluate plant performance using both direct observation and available environmental or cultivation data.
• Assist with establishing and maintaining consistent cultivation standards across plant populations.

Irrigation & Fertigation

• Operate, inspect, maintain, troubleshoot, and assist with installation of commercial irrigation and fertigation systems.
• Understand irrigation fundamentals including flow rate, pressure, pipe sizing, friction loss, pressure regulation, filtration, check valves, valves, pumps, emitters, manifolds, and irrigation zoning.
• Understand nutrient injection systems, proportional injectors, stock concentrates, mixing procedures, dilution ratios, and fertilizer solubility.
• Monitor and adjust irrigation based on plant size, developmental stage, substrate characteristics, environmental conditions, and plant demand.
• Measure and interpret irrigation input and root-zone EC and pH.
• Understand substrate water-holding capacity, field capacity, volumetric water content, dryback, runoff, and irrigation frequency.
• Diagnose problems involving uneven irrigation, clogged emitters, inadequate pressure or flow, injector malfunction, nutrient precipitation, pump performance, and distribution uniformity.
• Assist with plumbing, piping, pumps, tanks, valves, filters, injectors, irrigation controls, and related infrastructure.

Integrated Pest Management & Crop Protection

• Regularly scout cannabis crops for insects, mites, diseases, pathogens, and other biological threats.
• Identify common cannabis pests and plant-health problems, including aphids, thrips, spider mites, fungus gnats, whiteflies, powdery mildew, root diseases, and other common greenhouse pests or pathogens.
• Understand pest life cycles and how environmental and cultural conditions influence pest populations.
• Apply Integrated Pest Management (IPM) principles using cultural, biological, mechanical, environmental, and appropriately authorized crop-protection methods.
• Understand pesticide labels, application rates, re-entry requirements, personal protective equipment, compatibility, phytotoxicity risks, application timing, and resistance-management principles.
• Assist with pesticide or biological-control applications when appropriately trained and authorized.
• Maintain particular awareness of pesticide and contaminant requirements applicable to regulated cannabis production.
• Recognize conditions that increase the likelihood of pest outbreaks or pesticide-related plant injury.

Environmental & Greenhouse Management

• Understand the interaction between temperature, relative humidity, vapor pressure deficit (VPD), light intensity, airflow, irrigation, root-zone conditions, and plant transpiration.
• Monitor greenhouse or cultivation environments and recognize conditions likely to negatively affect plant growth.
• Assist with operation and troubleshooting of ventilation, fans, heaters, cooling equipment, dehumidification, environmental controls, lighting, shade systems, and related equipment.
• Understand differences between greenhouse, indoor, and outdoor cultivation environments and how cultivation practices must change accordingly.
• Identify environmental gradients and microclimates within cultivation areas.
• Assist with maintaining appropriate sanitation, airflow, drainage, and general growing-area conditions.

Technical, Mechanical & Trades-Based Responsibilities

A broad working knowledge of skilled trades is highly beneficial in this position. The Cultivation Lead is not necessarily expected to function as a licensed tradesperson, but should possess sufficient technical understanding to troubleshoot systems, perform appropriate routine repairs, communicate effectively with contractors, and recognize when specialized or licensed work is required.

Relevant skills include:

• Plumbing: PVC systems, valves, pumps, fittings, regulators, irrigation manifolds, tanks, filters, injectors, and water-distribution systems.
• Electrical: Basic electrical troubleshooting, motors, pumps, relays, controllers, sensors, lighting systems, and safe identification of electrical problems.
• HVAC & Environmental Systems: Ventilation, heating, cooling, fans, airflow, humidity management, thermostats, sensors, and greenhouse environmental controls.
• Mechanical: Pumps, motors, sprayers, irrigation equipment, greenhouse equipment, hand tools, power tools, and routine preventative maintenance.
• Controls & Automation: Timers, irrigation controllers, environmental sensors, dosing equipment, alarms, and automated cultivation equipment.
• Construction/Fabrication: General familiarity with greenhouse structures, benches, trellising, framing, panels, fasteners, sealants, and basic facility repairs.

The Cultivation Lead should be capable of approaching technical problems systematically: identifying symptoms, isolating likely causes, testing potential solutions, making appropriate repairs or adjustments, and recognizing when escalation is necessary.

General Cultivation Responsibilities

The position remains fundamentally hands-on. Responsibilities may include:

• Transplanting and moving plants.
• Mixing growing media and filling containers.
• Installing stakes, trellis, irrigation tubing, emitters, and other cultivation equipment.
• Pruning, defoliating, training, and supporting plants.
• Hand watering when necessary.
• Mixing and handling fertilizers and cultivation inputs.
• Cleaning and sanitizing cultivation areas and equipment.
• Moving hoses, pumps, tanks, tools, supplies, and equipment.
• Preparing cultivation areas between crop cycles.
• Assisting with harvest and crop removal.
• Removing plant waste and cultivation debris.
• Maintaining organized work areas, tools, parts, and supplies.
• Performing routine facility and equipment maintenance as needed.

Technical Knowledge & Preferred Qualifications

A strong candidate will possess substantial practical knowledge in several of the following areas:

• Commercial cannabis cultivation.
• Greenhouse horticulture.
• Cannabis plant physiology and morphology.
• Propagation and vegetative plant development.
• Flowering and reproductive development.
• Canopy management and plant training.
• Plant nutrition and fertilizer management.
• Nutrient deficiencies and toxicities.
• EC, pH, alkalinity, and irrigation-water quality.
• Fertigation and nutrient-injection systems.
• Peat, coco, soil, soilless substrates, and other growing media.
• Irrigation scheduling and root-zone management.
• Pumps, plumbing, irrigation hydraulics, and water distribution.
• Greenhouse environmental management.
• VPD, temperature, humidity, airflow, and transpiration.
• Integrated Pest Management.
• Cannabis pest and disease identification.
• Biological controls and beneficial organisms.
• Crop-protection products and application practices.
• Greenhouse sanitation and biosecurity.
• Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, mechanical, construction, or maintenance trades.
• Troubleshooting cultivation equipment and facility systems.
• Reading equipment specifications, product labels, technical manuals, and operating procedures.
• Maintaining cultivation records and interpreting operational or crop data.

Physical Requirements

This is a physically active cultivation position, not primarily a desk or administrative position.

The employee must be able to:

• Stand and walk for extended periods.
• Frequently bend, kneel, squat, reach, twist, push, and pull.
• Work above, below, and within dense plant canopies.
• Safely lift and carry cultivation supplies, equipment, containers, hoses, and other materials.
• Routinely lift approximately 50 pounds, with heavier team lifts when appropriate.
• Perform repetitive cultivation tasks for extended periods.
• Use ladders, hand tools, power tools, sprayers, pumps, and cultivation equipment when properly trained.
• Work on wet, uneven, slippery, or obstructed surfaces.
• Wear required personal protective equipment for the task being performed.
• Perform physically demanding work throughout a normal shift.

Reasonable accommodations will be considered where applicable.

Work Environment

The Cultivation Lead must be capable of working in a variety of agricultural, greenhouse, indoor, and outdoor environments.

Working conditions may include:

• Hot and humid greenhouse environments.
• Cold conditions during seasonal or outdoor work.
• Rapid changes in temperature and humidity.
• Direct sunlight and high-light environments.
• Wet cultivation areas and exposure to irrigation water.
• Dirt, dust, growing media, fertilizers, plant material, and organic debris.
• Pollen, insects, beneficial organisms, and normal agricultural biological materials.
• Fertilizers, sanitation products, and crop-protection materials when properly trained and equipped.
• Loud pumps, fans, motors, ventilation systems, and other mechanical equipment.
• Outdoor work involving wind, rain, heat, cold, and changing weather conditions.
• Cannabis plant material and the strong odors associated with commercial cannabis production.

Work schedules may occasionally need to accommodate irrigation requirements, crop-health concerns, environmental events, pest-management activities, equipment failures, harvests, or other time-sensitive cultivation needs.

Judgment & Problem Solving

The Cultivation Lead is expected to demonstrate a high degree of technical judgment and self-direction.

The position should be capable of recognizing when something is abnormal, determining the likely cause, gathering the information necessary to diagnose the problem, and taking or recommending an appropriate course of action.

Examples include identifying whether poor plant performance originates from irrigation, nutrition, environment, pests, disease, root-zone conditions, equipment failure, or cultural practices rather than simply treating visible symptoms.

The employee should also recognize the limits of their authority or expertise and escalate issues involving safety, regulatory compliance, licensed trade work, or significant crop risk when appropriate.

Lead Designation

The employee may serve as a technical resource to other cultivation personnel and may demonstrate procedures, troubleshoot problems, communicate cultivation priorities, or provide task-specific technical direction.

Success in this role is primarily measured by the individual's ability to:

• Maintain and improve plant health.
• Recognize and solve cultivation problems.
• Understand the biological and mechanical systems supporting the crop.
• Execute technically demanding cultivation work correctly.
• Maintain reliable irrigation, fertigation, and cultivation infrastructure.
• Identify risks before they become significant crop problems.
• Work safely and effectively in demanding cultivation environments.
• Apply advanced cannabis and horticultural knowledge to practical production challenges.

Pay: $20.00 - $25.00 per hour

Work Location: In person