Chief Marketing Officer

Description

Company Description

Ayr Wellness is a leading U.S. multi-state cannabis operator with more than 90 licensed retail locations across Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. We cultivate, manufacture, and sell a broad portfolio of high-quality cannabis products, proudly serving both medical patients and adult-use consumers across our markets.

At Ayr, our strength lies in our people. We’re re-imagining how we work across every part of our business, and we’re looking for builders and doers to roll up their sleeves and help shape what’s next.

The cannabis industry is fast-moving, complex, and full of opportunity. Together, we’re not only shaping a company, but also building the future of cannabis. At Ayr you’ll have the opportunity to make a lasting impact while growing your career alongside a company positioning itself for long-term success.

Job Summary

The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will make Ayr the brand customers choose and return to, earning loyalty without the paid-media playbook every other retailer gets to use. Cannabis marketing is hard on purpose: no national TV, limited paid search and social channels, and rules that change state by state and location by location. Winning means earning customers through brand education and in-store experiences, and driving acquisition and loyalty through organic search, SEO, and local outreach, and creative use of AI, turning customer insight, retail, and CPG brand positioning, and local execution into a system that compounds, proving it through measurable commercial results.

The CMO will build one national marketing organization with a dual mandate: serve both medical patients and adult-use consumers under a single brand, adapting campaigns to eight very different state markets, 90+ dispensaries and multiple wholesale channels. Structured around Creative, Digital, and Marketing Operations, the role owns the full remit: brand, education, CRM, loyalty, local execution, and measurement. As a member of the executive leadership team, the CMO partners closely with Retail, Wholesale, Commercial, Operations, Technology, Finance, People Ops, Legal and Compliance, leading roughly 20 marketing professionals and an annual budget of approximately $6M.

As rescheduling regulations evolve, the CMO will track emerging access to major advertising platforms (X, Google, Meta, TikTok), and others, and be ready to move the moment channels open. This is a rare chance to shape not just a company but the future of cannabis, and to make a lasting impact while building a career with an operator positioned for long-term success.

Duties and Responsibilities

Strategy and Commercial Growth

• Develop and execute a national marketing strategy aligned with Ayr's business, financial, and market priorities. Translate it into annual operating plans, investment priorities, campaigns, and measurable outcomes.
• Partner with Retail, Brand, and Wholesale leaders to grow acquisition, retention, visit frequency, average transaction value, and profitable sales.
• Ensure clear ownership for market-specific strategies and execution.
• Drive new store openings, market expansion, acquisitions, and brand integration.

Brand Strategy and Portfolio Management

• Set Ayr's corporate, retail, and product brand positioning, architecture, and customer value propositions.
• Build brand awareness, trust, differentiation, and consideration market by market.
• Differentiate Ayr's retail and product brands in competitive markets through clear positioning, customer insight, storytelling, and full use of permitted channels.
• Own consumer research, competitive intelligence, segmentation, and customer insight development.
• Work with Product Development, Cultivation, Manufacturing, and Commercial to spot market gaps and launch SKUs across flower, edibles, concentrates, and vapes, backed by compliant packaging, merchandising, and wholesale marketing.
• Set consistent creative standards, messaging, and brand guidelines across customer touchpoints.
• Create fresh digital and in-store activations for CPG brands around holidays and seasonal moments.

Customer and Patient Education

• Lead clear, accurate education for adult-use consumers and medical patients, tailored to each market and audience.
• Develop education on product formats, cannabinoid profiles, dosing, onset and duration, consumption methods, and responsible use, subject to expert and Legal and Compliance review.
• Arm dispensary teams with approved materials that drive informed product selection and consistent customer conversations.
• Ensure educational content avoids unsupported health claims and aligns with approved product information and applicable requirements.

Customer Experience CRM and Loyalty

• Own marketing across the full customer journey, from discovery and first purchase to repeat visits and advocacy.
• Lead CRM, email/SMS lifecycle marketing, personalization, and loyalty programs that improve retention and customer value, with proper consent, eligibility, and compliance controls.
• Run disciplined segmentation and campaign testing with control groups and incremental-results measurement.
• Partner with Finance and Commercial leadership to balance loyalty engagement, promotional effectiveness, margin, and rewards liability.
• Work with Retail and customer service teams to improve customer feedback, reviews, and service recovery.

Digital Marketing and Ecommerce

• Own website and ecommerce strategy: SEO, local and answer-engine optimization, listings management, and digital content.
• Streamline the path from online discovery to menu browsing, ordering, and in-store purchase.
• Partner with Retail and Technology to optimize digital menus and merchandising (including Dutchie) for better discovery, conversion, and basket size.
• Direct paid, owned, and earned media investments across permitted channels.
• Partner with Technology on marketing requirements, platform roadmaps, customer data quality, integrations, and analytics.
• Ensure digital campaigns and customer experiences meet accessibility, privacy, brand, and compliance requirements.
• Build an omnichannel strategy connecting dispensary, ecommerce, loyalty, communications, local listings, and events into one consistent journey.
• Partner with the Chief Revenue Officer to monetize the ecommerce site, including paid placements for third-party brands.

Marketing Operations

• Own the marketing operating engine: campaign planning, production workflows, calendars, and coordination across national and local teams.
• Establish creative intake, prioritization, approval, asset management, and distribution processes that deliver campaigns accurately and on time.
• Own business administration and adoption of marketing tools, partnering with Technology on architecture, integrations, security, and support.
• Manage agency delivery, vendor workflows, budget tracking, and campaign reporting; improve speed, consistency, and operational efficiency.

Local Market and Retail Execution

• Build market-specific plans informed by customer behavior, competitive conditions, store performance, and local opportunities.
• Equip field teams with clear campaign calendars, merchandising guidance, launch materials, and execution standards.
• Lead community engagement, partnerships, events, and reputation management.
• Lead PR, earned media, brand ambassador programs, and budtender education; coordinate crisis communications with leadership and Legal and Compliance.
• Coordinate promotional strategy with Retail, Commercial, and Finance to support profitable growth.

Measurement and Governance

• Own the marketing budget, agency relationships, vendor performance, and resource allocation.
• Establish a common marketing scorecard and report business impact to leadership and the Board.
• Evaluate results using CAC, retention, lifetime value, conversion, incremental sales, and contribution margin.
• Partner with Legal and Compliance on state-by-state review and approval of advertising, packaging, labeling, product claims, promotions, events, age restrictions, consent, and customer communications.
• Maintain standards aligned to cannabis advertising requirements and channel policies; verify permitted activities before launching campaigns.
• Ensure approved content and assets are used in each market, with documented approvals, staff training, and timely updates when requirements change.
• Put AI and automation to work where they improve productivity, with appropriate data protection, human review, and accountability.

Leadership and Organization

• Build and lead Creative, Digital, and Marketing Operations, with clear ownership across brands, creative production, ecommerce, CRM, loyalty, insights, and local marketing.
• Clarify roles, develop talent, and establish a culture of accountability, collaboration, and disciplined experimentation.
• Align internal teams and external partners around shared priorities and measurable results.
• Be the executive voice for the customer in every company decision.

Qualifications

• At least 15 years of progressive marketing leadership, including C-suite responsibility, ideally combining CPG, alcohol, tobacco, or regulated-retail expertise, with 3+ years of direct legal-cannabis experience preferred.
• Demonstrated success driving profitable growth through brand development, digital marketing, CRM, loyalty, and local execution.
• Experience managing budgets, agencies, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Financially fluent and analytically rigorous, with command of marketing attribution, incrementality testing, media-mix analysis, and investment cases that tie spend to profitable growth.
• Experience partnering with Technology on ecommerce, customer data, marketing platforms, and measurement.
• Proficiency with CRM, compliant email/SMS, digital menus, SEO infrastructure, analytics, and permitted ad channels; able to adapt quickly to regulatory change, competitive pressure, and price compression.
• Ability to operate effectively in a complex, evolving environment with competing priorities.
• Experience in other highly regulated consumer industries is valuable, including managing advertising restrictions, product claims, and market-specific approval processes.
• Executive communication skills and experience presenting to leadership teams and Boards.
• Must be at least 21 and able to satisfy state cannabis regulatory requirements, including background checks and registration/badging in Ayr's markets.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience; advanced degree preferred.

Success Measures

• Profitable growth in priority markets and customer segments.
• Improved customer retention, purchase frequency, and lifetime value.
• Stronger retail and product brand awareness, differentiation, and share of voice, with market share tracked against available benchmarks.
• Increased digital discovery, conversion, and measurable store engagement.
• Clear visibility into marketing investment and incremental business impact.
• Consistent, compliant execution across markets.
• A capable marketing team with clear ownership and effective cross-functional partnerships.

Working Conditions

• Primarily a remote-based role with frequent site visits to dispensaries, markets, events, and operating facilities.
• Travel up to 50% across Ayr’s markets, including overnight travel.
• Must be able to work flexible days/times, including occasional evenings (e.g., town halls or municipal meetings) and weekends, sometimes with little notice.

Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time.

AYR Wellness is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.