diff --git a/.github/workflows/beam_PerformanceTests_Kafka_IO.yml b/.github/workflows/beam_PerformanceTests_Kafka_IO.yml
index 39e49db09196..1f0b71cd03d3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/beam_PerformanceTests_Kafka_IO.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/beam_PerformanceTests_Kafka_IO.yml
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ jobs:
       github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' ||
       (github.event_name == 'schedule' && github.repository == 'apache/beam') ||
       github.event.comment.body == 'Run Java KafkaIO Performance Test'
-    runs-on: [self-hosted, ubuntu-20.04, main]
+    runs-on: [self-hosted, ubuntu-20.04, highmem]
     timeout-minutes: 120
     name: ${{ matrix.job_name }} (${{ matrix.job_phrase }})
     strategy:
diff --git a/sdks/java/io/kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/kafka/KafkaIOIT.java b/sdks/java/io/kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/kafka/KafkaIOIT.java
index cef3bc80d613..adf31dc72b54 100644
--- a/sdks/java/io/kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/kafka/KafkaIOIT.java
+++ b/sdks/java/io/kafka/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/io/kafka/KafkaIOIT.java
@@ -94,6 +94,7 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.AdminClient;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.NewPartitions;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.NewTopic;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.TopicPartition;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.ByteArrayDeserializer;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.ByteArraySerializer;
@@ -142,6 +143,16 @@ public class KafkaIOIT {
 
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(KafkaIOIT.class);
 
+  private static final int RETRIES_CONFIG = 10;
+
+  private static final int REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS_CONFIG = 600000;
+
+  private static final int MAX_BLOCK_MS_CONFIG = 300000;
+
+  private static final int BUFFER_MEMORY_CONFIG = 100554432;
+
+  private static final int RETRY_BACKOFF_MS_CONFIG = 5000;
+
   private static SyntheticSourceOptions sourceOptions;
 
   private static Options options;
@@ -938,7 +949,14 @@ private KafkaIO.Write<byte[], byte[]> writeToKafka() {
     return KafkaIO.<byte[], byte[]>write()
         .withBootstrapServers(options.getKafkaBootstrapServerAddresses())
         .withKeySerializer(ByteArraySerializer.class)
-        .withValueSerializer(ByteArraySerializer.class);
+        .withValueSerializer(ByteArraySerializer.class)
+        .withProducerConfigUpdates(
+            ImmutableMap.of(
+                ProducerConfig.RETRIES_CONFIG, RETRIES_CONFIG,
+                ProducerConfig.REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS_CONFIG, REQUEST_TIMEOUT_MS_CONFIG,
+                ProducerConfig.MAX_BLOCK_MS_CONFIG, MAX_BLOCK_MS_CONFIG,
+                ProducerConfig.BUFFER_MEMORY_CONFIG, BUFFER_MEMORY_CONFIG,
+                ProducerConfig.RETRY_BACKOFF_MS_CONFIG, RETRY_BACKOFF_MS_CONFIG));
   }
 
   private KafkaIO.Read<byte[], byte[]> readFromBoundedKafka() {