Director of Cultivation

Director of Cultivation

Full-time, Onsite

Nova Scotia, Canada

Our client is a Canadian licensed producer with established cannabis cultivation, production, and quality operations supporting the regulated medical cannabis supply. The business operates in a compliance-led environment, with a focus on quality, sustainability, operational consistency, and long-term growth across domestic and international medical cannabis channels.

They are seeking a senior cultivation leader to oversee cultivation strategy, crop performance, team leadership, and day-to-day execution across a regulated cannabis production environment. This is a high-impact leadership role for someone who can bring technical cultivation depth, strong operational discipline, and the ability to lead teams through structure, accountability, and continuous improvement.

The Director of Cultivation will be responsible for driving plant health, crop consistency, production planning, cultivation standards, and team performance across the facility. This role requires someone who understands large-scale commercial cultivation and can work cross-functionally with Quality Assurance, Production, Operations, Inventory, and Supply Chain teams to ensure cultivation outputs are aligned with business, regulatory, and quality expectations.

The ideal candidate will bring experience leading cultivation or controlled-environment agriculture teams in a commercial production setting, with strong knowledge of plant health, propagation, environmental controls, nutrient management, harvest forecasting, and regulated production standards.

MUST have:

• Experience leading large-scale commercial cultivation, horticulture, agriculture, controlled-environment agriculture, or cannabis production operations
• Strong technical knowledge of plant health, propagation, crop planning, environmental controls, nutrient management, and pest/disease prevention
• Proven experience managing teams in a production, cultivation, agricultural, horticultural, or regulated facility environment
• Strong documentation discipline and comfort working in a compliance-driven environment
• Ability to lead from both a strategic and hands-on operational level

Key Responsibilities

• Lead cultivation operations across the full plant lifecycle, including propagation, plant care, crop maintenance, harvest readiness, and post-harvest coordination.
• Oversee plant health, crop quality, yield performance, harvest forecasting, and cultivation timelines.
• Develop, maintain, and improve cultivation protocols, including crop schedules, nutrient programs, environmental parameters, sanitation expectations, and plant care standards.
• Ensure cultivation practices are aligned with applicable cannabis regulations, internal SOPs, GPP/GMP expectations, and company quality standards.
• Work closely with Quality Assurance, Production, Operations, Inventory, and Supply Chain teams to support production planning, compliance, product availability, and overall facility performance.
• Monitor cultivation data, crop progress, inventory, and production schedules to support accurate forecasting and operational decision-making.
• Maintain strong documentation practices, ensuring cultivation records, inventory updates, crop notes, and compliance-related information are complete, organized, and accessible.
• Lead, train, coach, and develop cultivation and sanitation team members, creating clear expectations around quality, safety, productivity, and accountability.
• Support hiring, onboarding, and performance management for cultivation team members.
• Identify opportunities to improve yield, consistency, labour efficiency, crop quality, plant health, and overall cultivation performance.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives, including process refinement, operational discipline, capacity planning, and quality improvement.
• Ensure cultivation areas are maintained in a clean, organized, safe, and compliant manner.
• Promote a culture of safety, compliance, communication, and collaboration across the cultivation function.
• Provide regular crop and operational updates to senior leadership.

Qualifications & Experience

• 5+ years of management experience in commercial cultivation, horticulture, agriculture, cannabis production, or a related production environment.
• Cannabis cultivation experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience working in a regulated production environment is considered an asset.
• Strong knowledge of soil or soilless cultivation methods, nutrient strategies, propagation, plant health, and environmental control.
• Experience with product moisture controls, curing, production handoff, or post-harvest quality considerations is considered an asset.
• Understanding of GPP, GMP, Health Canada, or other regulated production standards is considered an asset.
• Experience with environmental control systems, cultivation software, inventory systems, or production tracking tools.
• Diploma or degree in Horticulture, Agriculture, Biology, Plant Science, or a related field is considered an asset.
• Strong leadership, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to prioritize in a fast-moving production environment and adjust plans as needed.
• Health Canada Security Clearance, or ability to obtain it, may be required.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Emerald Lane Recruitment is committed to advancing equity and inclusion across the global cannabis industry. We proudly support our clients in building teams that reflect the full diversity of the communities they serve. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability status, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions.