General Counsel / VP of Legal & Compliance

At Minnesota Cannabis Services, we’re not just building businesses — we’re building the people who make them great. Our team partners with leading operators across cultivation, manufacturing, distribution, and retail to deliver world-class expertise in legal, finance, analytics, marketing, HR, and technology.

We’re looking for professionals who take pride in their work, move with purpose, and thrive in fast-changing environments. The kind of people who hold themselves to high standards, think creatively, and find satisfaction in solving hard problems.

When you join our team, you’ll work alongside some of the most experienced leaders in the industry — professionals who share their knowledge freely and lead by example. You’ll be challenged, supported, and trusted to take ownership of meaningful work that shapes the future of one of the fastest-growing industries in America.

The Opportunity

This is the senior-most attorney seat in our organization. You will own the legal and compliance function end to end: legal strategy, regulatory compliance, corporate structure, real estate and transactions, and risk management across everything we and our clients do. You'll report directly to the CEO, work daily with a four-person executive team that decides fast and doesn't do bureaucracy, and help set the standard for a corporate office being built right now. The path to Chief Legal Officer is real and defined for the right candidate.

For the right candidate, the work itself is the draw: cannabis regulation is complex, fast-moving, and genuinely interesting, and this seat touches all of it — regulatory strategy, governance, leasing and land use, legislative affairs, lender relationships, licensure. Your first six months will have defined strategies and objectives, so you'll know exactly what you're walking into and exactly what success looks like.

What You'll Own

• Regulatory compliance and audit-readiness across every market and license type we support — built and maintained to a standard that welcomes scrutiny.  Own licensing applications, renewals, ownership-change requirements, and regulatory deadlines; work with market leaders to implement controls and close audit findings.
• Contracts: personally draft, review, and negotiate commercial agreements; establish review standards and approval processes; and ensure executed agreements, obligations, and notice and renewal dates are accurately maintained.
• Corporate governance and structure: architect, draft, and implement entity and compliance frameworks in partnership with financial advisors.
• Real estate and transactions: lease review, subleasing, and transactional work supporting turnkey construction and facility solutions for licensed operators.
• Legal operations: own the use and administration of our Legal Ops platform and the processes around it, including intake, priorities, deadlines, document control, reporting, and escalation. Verify record accuracy, build repeatable workflows, and make the platform the team's source of truth.
• Legal team leadership: directly manage and develop the in-house legal team, including a senior counsel and two paralegals. Set priorities, assign work, review deliverables, and hold the team accountable for accurate, timely execution, while directing outside counsel with tight control of scope and spend.
• Government affairs: you must speak purple. Cannabis policy here advances through bipartisan relationships, and we work credibly with lawmakers and stakeholders across the political spectrum — Republicans and Democrats alike — as a matter of principle. If partisan politics would get in the way of our mission, you’re not the right candidate.
• Other important responsibilities include zoning, land use, and municipal approvals; labor and employment partnership with Human Resources; and litigation readiness quarterbacking external counsel.

Who This Seat Fits

A senior attorney who builds and is deeply fulfilled by navigating complexity and responsibility. The balance here leans player over coach: you'll draft, negotiate, research, and file — and be proudest of the work you produce with your own hands. You create clear ownership, reliable deadlines, and consistent review standards, and you develop junior staff to meet them.  It fits someone energized by ownership, high standards, and particularly variety in their scope of work and expertise. We want someone who practices at the modern frontier: we lead with AI and technology across the entire company, legal included, and genuine current fluency and mastery with AI legal tools is part of the job.

We're an in-person team by design — we believe presence is how mentorship, exceptional culture, and a corporate office actually get built — so this role is on-site in Edina, five days a week between the hours of 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.

What We Offer

$225,000–$250,000 and benefits. A defined path to Chief Legal Officer. Direct access to ownership and real decision-making authority. A modern, AI-forward legal practice. Relocation assistance for the right candidate. And a seat at the table in a nascent industry where the impact is still being influenced by people like you.

Qualifications

• JD with active bar membership in good standing; Minnesota admission or ability to obtain promptly.
• 8+ years including senior in-house leadership, with demonstrated experience building or owning a legal or compliance function.
• Deep multi-state regulatory experience in cannabis (strongly preferred) or a comparably regulated industry: alcohol, pharmaceuticals, gaming, tobacco, etc.
• Demonstrated hands-on commercial contract drafting and negotiation, disciplined management of regulatory deadlines and records, and experience supervising and developing junior staff.
• Multi-unit retail, franchising, or real estate depth is a plus.
• Exceptional attention to detail, decisiveness, and the highest ethical standards.

At Minnesota Cannabis Services, we believe great teams are built on trust, initiative, and follow-through. We invest deeply in our people — providing mentorship, on-the-job training, and opportunities for advancement across multiple sectors of the cannabis industry.

Here, you’ll be part of a high-performing culture that values precision, reliability, and continuous improvement. Every project is a chance to grow your skills, strengthen your leadership, and contribute to something that matters.

If you’re driven, resourceful, and ready to make an impact, we want you on our team. Apply today and take the next step in your career with Minnesota Cannabis Services.