diff --git a/awx/main/management/commands/register_queue.py b/awx/main/management/commands/register_queue.py
index 2fa931c88b1c..8f4c56427948 100644
--- a/awx/main/management/commands/register_queue.py
+++ b/awx/main/management/commands/register_queue.py
@@ -17,13 +17,14 @@ def __init__(self, message, changed, *args, **kwargs):
 
 
 class RegisterQueue:
-    def __init__(self, queuename, instance_percent, inst_min, hostname_list, is_container_group=None):
+    def __init__(self, queuename, instance_percent, inst_min, hostname_list, is_container_group=None, pod_spec_override=None):
         self.instance_not_found_err = None
         self.queuename = queuename
         self.instance_percent = instance_percent
         self.instance_min = inst_min
         self.hostname_list = hostname_list
         self.is_container_group = is_container_group
+        self.pod_spec_override = pod_spec_override
 
     def get_create_update_instance_group(self):
         created = False
@@ -40,6 +41,10 @@ def get_create_update_instance_group(self):
             ig.is_container_group = self.is_container_group
             changed = True
 
+        if self.pod_spec_override and (ig.pod_spec_override != self.pod_spec_override):
+            ig.pod_spec_override = self.pod_spec_override
+            changed = True
+
         if changed:
             ig.save()
 
diff --git a/awx/main/managers.py b/awx/main/managers.py
index 7b9164ef32c4..2091c365622c 100644
--- a/awx/main/managers.py
+++ b/awx/main/managers.py
@@ -179,7 +179,9 @@ def get_or_register(self):
             else:
                 registered = self.register(ip_address=pod_ip, uuid=settings.SYSTEM_UUID)
             RegisterQueue(settings.DEFAULT_CONTROL_PLANE_QUEUE_NAME, 100, 0, [], is_container_group=False).register()
-            RegisterQueue(settings.DEFAULT_EXECUTION_QUEUE_NAME, 100, 0, [], is_container_group=True).register()
+            RegisterQueue(
+                settings.DEFAULT_EXECUTION_QUEUE_NAME, 100, 0, [], is_container_group=True, pod_spec_override=settings.DEFAULT_EXECUTION_QUEUE_POD_SPEC_OVERRIDE
+            ).register()
             return registered
         else:
             return (False, self.me())
diff --git a/awx/main/scheduler/kubernetes.py b/awx/main/scheduler/kubernetes.py
index 17b098a77b83..6e36226df556 100644
--- a/awx/main/scheduler/kubernetes.py
+++ b/awx/main/scheduler/kubernetes.py
@@ -9,29 +9,12 @@
 from django.utils.functional import cached_property
 from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
 
-from awx.main.utils.common import parse_yaml_or_json
+from awx.main.utils.common import parse_yaml_or_json, deepmerge
 from awx.main.utils.execution_environments import get_default_pod_spec
 
 logger = logging.getLogger('awx.main.scheduler')
 
 
-def deepmerge(a, b):
-    """
-    Merge dict structures and return the result.
-
-    >>> a = {'first': {'all_rows': {'pass': 'dog', 'number': '1'}}}
-    >>> b = {'first': {'all_rows': {'fail': 'cat', 'number': '5'}}}
-    >>> import pprint; pprint.pprint(deepmerge(a, b))
-    {'first': {'all_rows': {'fail': 'cat', 'number': '5', 'pass': 'dog'}}}
-    """
-    if isinstance(a, dict) and isinstance(b, dict):
-        return dict([(k, deepmerge(a.get(k), b.get(k))) for k in set(a.keys()).union(b.keys())])
-    elif b is None:
-        return a
-    else:
-        return b
-
-
 class PodManager(object):
     def __init__(self, task=None):
         self.task = task
@@ -183,7 +166,7 @@ def pod_definition(self):
         pod_spec_override = {}
         if self.task and self.task.instance_group.pod_spec_override:
             pod_spec_override = parse_yaml_or_json(self.task.instance_group.pod_spec_override)
-        pod_spec = {**default_pod_spec, **pod_spec_override}
+        pod_spec = deepmerge(default_pod_spec, pod_spec_override)
 
         if self.task:
             pod_spec['metadata'] = deepmerge(
diff --git a/awx/main/tasks.py b/awx/main/tasks.py
index 9b155123de05..38855ae19198 100644
--- a/awx/main/tasks.py
+++ b/awx/main/tasks.py
@@ -3286,7 +3286,11 @@ def pod_definition(self):
         pod_spec_override = {}
         if self.task and self.task.instance.instance_group.pod_spec_override:
             pod_spec_override = parse_yaml_or_json(self.task.instance.instance_group.pod_spec_override)
-        pod_spec = {**default_pod_spec, **pod_spec_override}
+        # According to the deepmerge docstring, the second dictionary will override when
+        # they share keys, which is the desired behavior.
+        # This allows user to only provide elements they want to override, and for us to still provide any
+        # defaults they don't want to change
+        pod_spec = deepmerge(default_pod_spec, pod_spec_override)
 
         pod_spec['spec']['containers'][0]['image'] = ee.image
         pod_spec['spec']['containers'][0]['args'] = ['ansible-runner', 'worker', '--private-data-dir=/runner']
diff --git a/awx/settings/defaults.py b/awx/settings/defaults.py
index 49ba50efff3b..5fbc0dfd326b 100644
--- a/awx/settings/defaults.py
+++ b/awx/settings/defaults.py
@@ -986,5 +986,7 @@ def IS_TESTING(argv=None):
 
 # Name of the default task queue
 DEFAULT_EXECUTION_QUEUE_NAME = 'default'
+# pod spec used when the default execution queue is a container group, e.g. when deploying on k8s/ocp with the operator
+DEFAULT_EXECUTION_QUEUE_POD_SPEC_OVERRIDE = ''
 # Name of the default controlplane queue
 DEFAULT_CONTROL_PLANE_QUEUE_NAME = 'controlplane'