Head of Brand & Retail Marketing
New York Metro Area (Hybrid) | ~25% Travel to Markets
$175,000 - $200,000 + Bonus
About 1906
1906 makes fast-acting cannabis edibles and drink additives designed around one simple question: How do you want to feel?
We combine plant medicine, real science, and sharp brand building to create a smarter alternative to alcohol and pharmaceuticals. We believe brands are built by ideas, by retail, and by how consumers experience you in the real world. Not by dashboards alone.
The Opportunity
This role reports to the CEO and serves as the brand steward of 1906 across 1,200+ dispensaries, liquor and brick-and-mortar retail (2 states today, 20+ by 2027), and all consumer-facing brand touchpoints.
You will work in close partnership with our Head of Ecommerce & Growth, who owns performance marketing and digital revenue. You own how the brand shows up. They own how traffic converts. Together, you make the machine work.
You'll lead a small internal team, manage agencies and freelancers, and ensure 1906 shows up correctly everywhere consumers encounter us.
This is not a role where you manage from a distance. This is a role for someone who wants to:
Walk stores and rethink shelves
Build campaigns and write briefs that inspire real creative
Create retail programs and fix POS
Sit with sales and obsess over packaging
Make the brand sharper, everywhere
Who You Are
You believe great ideas build brands
You love retail. You walk stores for fun. You understand merchandising, education, and how things move off shelves.
You care deeply about consumers and what they care about
You understand data but use it directionally. You're not a slave to dashboards.
You obsess over every touchpoint: packaging, POS, sampling, shelf, copy, displays
You move fast. You test. You refine.
You're passionate about cannabis, functional wellness, or the non-alc movement
You're low ego, high output, and comfortable doing whatever needs doing
What You'll Do
Brand Leadership
Define positioning, messaging hierarchy, and how 1906 shows up across all channels
Translate our science into stories people remember
Write briefs that inspire real creative
Protect brand integrity across markets, retailers, and partners
Ensure consistency from packaging to POS to digital to field marketing
Dispensary Marketing (1,200+ doors)
Build the playbook for what moves product: POS, education, merchandising, budtender engagement, promotions
Partner with sales teams in each market to ensure programs execute in store
Create scalable toolkits that work market to market
Spend real time in stores observing shopper behavior and refining programs
Liquor & Retail Expansion (2 states today, 20+ by 2027)
This role defines not just how the category shows up in liquor stores, but how it sells. Success is measured by better shelves, better education, and faster sell-through.
Define how THC beverages and drink additives should be merchandised, explained, and experienced at shelf
Build retail programs designed to increase velocity, not just awareness
Partner with alcohol/beverage distributors to win shelf placement, secondary displays, and retail visibility
Build relationships with key accounts like Total Wine and regional chains to develop co-marketing programs
Create the consumer education playbook for a category most liquor shoppers don't yet understand
Identify which markets to prioritize based on retail readiness and commercial opportunity
Build toolkits that scale market to market without losing effectiveness
Collaboration with Ecommerce & Growth
Partner with the Head of Ecommerce & Growth to ensure brand and performance inform each other
Develop campaign moments that live across retail and digital
Support creative testing with strong brand thinking
Ensure DTC reflects the same brand standards as retail, without owning performance marketing
Team & Agencies
Lead a small, high-output team and external partners
Set clear priorities and define what great looks like
Work cross-functionally with sales, product, ops, and ecommerce
Build a team culture that is fast, creative, and accountable
Qualifications
12+ years building brands in CPG, beverage, wellness, or adjacent categories
Deep experience with retail marketing and in-store execution
Proven ability to turn strategy into compelling creative and retail programs
Comfortable being hands-on across copy, briefs, POS, and creative feedback
Experience working with distributors and retail partners
Strong understanding of performance marketing, without needing to own it
Excellent writer, communicator, and creative thinker
Strong presentation skills
Cannabis experience is not required. Love of consumers and retail is.
Compensation & Benefits
$175,000 - $200,000 base salary
Annual performance bonus
Health, dental, and vision (company pays 100% of employee health premium)
401(k)
Life insurance, disability coverage, accident and critical illness insurance
FSA
Unlimited PTO
How We Work
We move fast. We write briefs on the fly. We test in market. We change direction when needed. We spend time in stores. We care about details. If you like building brands in the real world, you'll thrive here.
Our Commitment to Diversity
We believe diverse teams build better companies. We're committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone belongs, and we encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply.