Job Profile: Post-Harvest Technician I

Job Overview

The Post-Harvest Technician I executes the foundational processes that transform harvested cannabis plants into stable, marketable products. This position operates at the intersection of agricultural science, manufacturing discipline, and rigorous regulatory compliance. The technician is directly responsible for the careful handling and processing of plant material, a task that fundamentally determines the final quality, market value, and safety of the inventory. Through meticulous execution of bucking, trimming, drying, and curing protocols, the role preserves the valuable cannabinoids and terpenes developed during months of cultivation. Success requires a blend of manual dexterity, process-driven efficiency, and an unwavering commitment to data integrity within state-mandated seed-to-sale tracking systems. This role directly impacts revenue by ensuring product meets quality standards and avoids loss due to contamination or improper handling.

A Day in the Life

The operational day for a Post-Harvest Technician I begins with a structured preparation phase. Technicians enter a controlled, sanitized environment and don required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), which includes gloves, hairnets, and dedicated lab coats, to prevent any contamination of the product. The first task involves reviewing the daily production schedule assigned by the Post-Harvest Manager. This schedule outlines the specific harvest batches, or lots, designated for processing. Before handling any plant material, the technician calibrates digital scales to ensure accurate weight measurements for compliance reporting and verifies that all tools and work surfaces are sanitized according to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

The primary morning activity is typically bucking. This involves taking large, freshly harvested cannabis stalks and carefully removing the individual flowers. Each harvest batch is identified by a unique RFID or barcode tag, which is scanned into the facility's seed-to-sale compliance software, such as METRC. The technician weighs the initial plant material (wet weight) and logs it against the batch tag. The process requires a delicate touch to minimize the dislodging of trichomes, the fragile resin glands on the flower that contain the highest concentration of active compounds. All separated stems and fan leaves are collected and weighed separately as plant waste, a critical step for state compliance tracking.

Following bucking, the focus shifts to trimming. The technician meticulously removes the small sugar leaves from the surface of the flowers to improve the product's final appearance and potency. This can be a highly repetitive task requiring sustained focus and manual dexterity. Depending on the product's destination (e.g., premium flower vs. material for extraction), this may be done by hand with fine scissors or with the aid of automated trimming machines. Throughout this process, the technician performs constant quality control, inspecting for any signs of mold, mildew, pests, or other defects and immediately segregating any compromised material for review by a supervisor.

The afternoon involves preparing the trimmed flower for the drying and curing phase. The technician carefully places the trimmed flowers onto sanitized drying racks or hangs them in a dedicated, environmentally controlled drying room. This transfer of material is again documented meticulously in the compliance software, reflecting the change in the product's physical location and status. The technician assists in monitoring the dry room's environmental controls, checking digital readouts for temperature and humidity to ensure they remain within the narrow parameters set by the SOP. The day concludes with a thorough cleaning and sanitization of the entire workstation, including all tools and equipment, to prepare for the next day's processing and prevent microbial growth. Final data entries are double-checked for accuracy before the shift ends.

Core Responsibilities & Operational Impact

The Post-Harvest Technician I has ownership over three distinct operational domains that are critical to the company's success:

1. Biomass Processing & Value Preservation

• Material Handling: Executing the physical de-stemming (bucking) and trimming of cannabis flower with techniques that protect the delicate trichome structures, thereby preserving the product's potency and market value.
• Quality Assurance Sorting: Performing frontline quality inspections to identify and remove any subpar product affected by microbial growth, pests, or cultivation defects. This action directly prevents contaminated material from entering the consumer supply chain.
• Process Efficiency: Operating both manual and automated processing equipment to meet daily and weekly production quotas, ensuring a consistent flow of material to the packaging department and supporting overall cultivation throughput.

2. Drying, Curing & Environmental Control

• Drying Room Management: Loading and organizing trimmed flower into controlled environments and assisting in the monitoring of temperature and humidity levels to achieve the target moisture content, a key factor in product stability and shelf life.
• Curing Protocol Execution: Handling cured product according to strict SOPs, which may involve rotating product in sealed containers to ensure a consistent and high-quality final aroma, flavor, and consumption experience.
• Sanitation & Facility Maintenance: Upholding a high standard of cleanliness in all post-harvest areas to comply with health regulations and prevent the risk of mold or bacterial outbreaks that could destroy entire harvests.

3. Regulatory Compliance & Data Management

• Seed-to-Sale Tracking: Accurately weighing all categories of plant material—including finished flower, trim, and waste—and inputting the data into the state-mandated compliance software system without error.
• Batch Integrity: Maintaining strict physical and digital separation for every harvest batch throughout the entire post-harvest process to ensure 100% traceability from plant to final package.
• Waste Management: Documenting and handling all cannabis waste according to state regulations, which often require grinding and mixing it with other materials to render it unusable before disposal.

Strategic Impact Analysis

The Post-Harvest Technician I directly influences key business performance metrics through the following mechanisms:

Chain of Command & Key Stakeholders

Reports To: This position typically reports to the Post-Harvest Manager or a Post-Harvest Team Lead.

Similar Roles: Professionals from other industries can find equivalent responsibilities in titles such as Food Production Associate, Agricultural Technician, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Operator, or Cleanroom Assembly Technician. These roles share a common foundation of working in controlled environments, adhering to strict sanitation protocols (like GMP or HACCP), following detailed SOPs, and performing repetitive tasks that require high levels of precision and quality control. The core skill set of process discipline and attention to detail is directly transferable.

Works Closely With: This position maintains critical communication links with the Cultivation Team to coordinate harvest schedules, the Quality Assurance Department for submitting lab samples and receiving feedback on product quality, and the Packaging Team, which receives the finished, cured flower for final processing.

Technology, Tools & Systems

Proficiency with specific technologies and tools is central to operational success:

• Seed-to-Sale Compliance Software: Daily, intensive use of platforms like METRC, BioTrack, or LeafLogix for data entry, inventory tracking, and maintaining chain of custody. Accuracy is non-negotiable.
• Processing Equipment: Operation of manual and automated systems, including industrial bucking machines that separate flowers from stems and trimming machines that automate leaf removal.
• Precision Measurement Tools: Consistent use of calibrated digital scales for accurate weight documentation and moisture meters to determine the precise endpoint of the drying process.
• Environmental Monitoring Systems: Interacting with sensors and software that track and log temperature and relative humidity in drying and curing rooms to ensure optimal conditions are maintained.

The Ideal Candidate Profile

Transferable Skills

Success in this role leverages experience from highly structured, process-oriented industries:

• Food & Beverage Production: Experience with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles, sanitation protocols, and batch record-keeping transfers directly.
• Pharmaceutical / Medical Device Assembly: Background working in sterile, clean-room environments where adherence to complex SOPs, meticulous documentation, and quality control are paramount.
• Commercial Agriculture / Produce Packing: Knowledge of handling delicate biological products, grading and sorting for quality, and working efficiently to process perishable goods.
• Fine Assembly or Handcrafting (e.g., Jewelry, Electronics): Demonstrates a high degree of manual dexterity, patience for repetitive tasks, and a keen eye for detail and quality.

Critical Competencies

The role demands specific professional attributes:

• Process Discipline: The ability to follow multi-step instructions with precision and consistency for extended periods, without deviation from established SOPs.
• Meticulous Attention to Detail: The capacity to identify subtle imperfections in the product and to maintain error-free records in compliance and batch-tracking logs.
• Operational Flexibility: The agility to adapt to changing daily priorities, switch between different tasks (e.g., bucking, trimming, cleaning), and handle various cannabis chemovars that may have unique physical characteristics.

Top 3 Influential Entities for the Role

These organizations create the rules and standards that define the daily operations of this role:

• State Cannabis Regulatory Agency: This is the primary governing body (e.g., California's Department of Cannabis Control, Florida's Office of Medical Marijuana Use). Their regulations dictate every aspect of tracking, handling, batching, waste disposal, and facility sanitation. Compliance is mandatory.
• State Department of Agriculture: This agency often sets the standards for facility cleanliness, pest management, and the use of sanitation chemicals within a cannabis processing facility, treating it similarly to a food production environment.
• ASTM International Committee D37 on Cannabis: A standards development organization that creates voluntary, consensus-based best practices for the industry. Their standards on drying, curing, and contamination control are becoming the benchmark for high-quality operations.

Acronyms & Terminology