diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 7bab325d..a2a385ee 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/rancher/aks-operator/controller"
 	aksv1 "github.com/rancher/aks-operator/pkg/generated/controllers/aks.cattle.io"
+	"github.com/rancher/aks-operator/pkg/version"
 	core3 "github.com/rancher/wrangler/v2/pkg/generated/controllers/core"
 	"github.com/rancher/wrangler/v2/pkg/kubeconfig"
 	"github.com/rancher/wrangler/v2/pkg/signals"
@@ -30,6 +31,8 @@ func main() {
 	// set up signals so we handle the first shutdown signal gracefully
 	ctx := signals.SetupSignalContext()
 
+	logrus.Infof("Starting aks-operator (version: %s, commit: %s)", version.Version, version.GitCommit)
+
 	// This will load the kubeconfig file in a style the same as kubectl
 	cfg, err := kubeconfig.GetNonInteractiveClientConfig(kubeconfigFile).ClientConfig()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/version/version.go b/pkg/version/version.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5a40ac92
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/version/version.go
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+package version
+
+var (
+	GitCommit string
+	Version   string
+)