diff --git a/execution/gethexec/sequencer.go b/execution/gethexec/sequencer.go
index 23340594c4..da816c212f 100644
--- a/execution/gethexec/sequencer.go
+++ b/execution/gethexec/sequencer.go
@@ -9,13 +9,17 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
 	"math/big"
+	"os"
 	"runtime/debug"
+	"runtime/pprof"
+	"runtime/trace"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"sync"
 	"sync/atomic"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/google/uuid"
 	"github.com/offchainlabs/nitro/arbutil"
 	"github.com/offchainlabs/nitro/execution"
 	"github.com/offchainlabs/nitro/util/arbmath"
@@ -76,6 +80,7 @@ type SequencerConfig struct {
 	NonceFailureCacheExpiry      time.Duration   `koanf:"nonce-failure-cache-expiry" reload:"hot"`
 	ExpectedSurplusSoftThreshold string          `koanf:"expected-surplus-soft-threshold" reload:"hot"`
 	ExpectedSurplusHardThreshold string          `koanf:"expected-surplus-hard-threshold" reload:"hot"`
+	EnableProfiling              bool            `koanf:"enable-profiling"`
 	expectedSurplusSoftThreshold int
 	expectedSurplusHardThreshold int
 }
@@ -125,6 +130,7 @@ var DefaultSequencerConfig = SequencerConfig{
 	NonceFailureCacheExpiry:      time.Second,
 	ExpectedSurplusSoftThreshold: "default",
 	ExpectedSurplusHardThreshold: "default",
+	EnableProfiling:              true,
 }
 
 var TestSequencerConfig = SequencerConfig{
@@ -142,6 +148,7 @@ var TestSequencerConfig = SequencerConfig{
 	NonceFailureCacheExpiry:      time.Second,
 	ExpectedSurplusSoftThreshold: "default",
 	ExpectedSurplusHardThreshold: "default",
+	EnableProfiling:              false,
 }
 
 func SequencerConfigAddOptions(prefix string, f *flag.FlagSet) {
@@ -159,6 +166,7 @@ func SequencerConfigAddOptions(prefix string, f *flag.FlagSet) {
 	f.Duration(prefix+".nonce-failure-cache-expiry", DefaultSequencerConfig.NonceFailureCacheExpiry, "maximum amount of time to wait for a predecessor before rejecting a tx with nonce too high")
 	f.String(prefix+".expected-surplus-soft-threshold", DefaultSequencerConfig.ExpectedSurplusSoftThreshold, "if expected surplus is lower than this value, warnings are posted")
 	f.String(prefix+".expected-surplus-hard-threshold", DefaultSequencerConfig.ExpectedSurplusHardThreshold, "if expected surplus is lower than this value, new incoming transactions will be denied")
+	f.Bool(prefix+".enable-profiling", DefaultSequencerConfig.EnableProfiling, "enable CPU profiling and tracing")
 }
 
 type txQueueItem struct {
@@ -327,6 +335,7 @@ type Sequencer struct {
 	expectedSurplusMutex   sync.RWMutex
 	expectedSurplus        int64
 	expectedSurplusUpdated bool
+	enableProfiling        bool
 }
 
 func NewSequencer(execEngine *ExecutionEngine, l1Reader *headerreader.HeaderReader, configFetcher SequencerConfigFetcher) (*Sequencer, error) {
@@ -353,6 +362,7 @@ func NewSequencer(execEngine *ExecutionEngine, l1Reader *headerreader.HeaderRead
 		l1Timestamp:     0,
 		pauseChan:       nil,
 		onForwarderSet:  make(chan struct{}, 1),
+		enableProfiling: config.EnableProfiling,
 	}
 	s.nonceFailures = &nonceFailureCache{
 		containers.NewLruCacheWithOnEvict(config.NonceCacheSize, s.onNonceFailureEvict),
@@ -758,6 +768,59 @@ func (s *Sequencer) precheckNonces(queueItems []txQueueItem) []txQueueItem {
 	return outputQueueItems
 }
 
+func deleteFiles(files ...*os.File) {
+	for _, f := range files {
+		if err := os.Remove(f.Name()); err != nil {
+			log.Error("Error removing file", "name", f.Name())
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func closeFiles(files ...*os.File) {
+	for _, f := range files {
+		if err := os.Remove(f.Name()); err != nil {
+			log.Error("Error closing file", "name", f.Name())
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// createBlockWithProfiling runs create block with tracing and CPU profiling
+// enabled. If the block creation takes longer than 5 seconds, it keeps both
+// and prints out filenames in an error log line.
+func (s *Sequencer) createBlockWithProfiling(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	id := uuid.NewString()
+	pprofFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", id+".pprof")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Error("Creating temporary file for profiling CPU", "error", err)
+		return false
+	}
+	traceFile, err := os.CreateTemp("", id+".trace")
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Error("Creating temporary file for tracing", "error", err)
+		return false
+	}
+	if err := pprof.StartCPUProfile(pprofFile); err != nil {
+		log.Error("Starting CPU profiling", "error", err)
+		deleteFiles(pprofFile, traceFile)
+		return false
+	}
+	if err := trace.Start(traceFile); err != nil {
+		log.Error("Starting tracing", "error", err)
+	}
+	start := time.Now()
+	res := s.createBlock(ctx)
+	elapsed := time.Since(start)
+	pprof.StopCPUProfile()
+	trace.Stop()
+	closeFiles(pprofFile, traceFile)
+	if elapsed > 5*time.Second {
+		log.Error("Block creation took longer than 5 seconds", "pprof", pprofFile.Name())
+		return res
+	}
+	deleteFiles(pprofFile, traceFile)
+	return res
+}
+
 func (s *Sequencer) createBlock(ctx context.Context) (returnValue bool) {
 	var queueItems []txQueueItem
 	var totalBatchSize int
@@ -1088,7 +1151,12 @@ func (s *Sequencer) Start(ctxIn context.Context) error {
 
 	s.CallIteratively(func(ctx context.Context) time.Duration {
 		nextBlock := time.Now().Add(s.config().MaxBlockSpeed)
-		madeBlock := s.createBlock(ctx)
+		var madeBlock bool
+		if s.enableProfiling {
+			s.createBlockWithProfiling(ctx)
+		} else {
+			madeBlock = s.createBlock(ctx)
+		}
 		if madeBlock {
 			// Note: this may return a negative duration, but timers are fine with that (they treat negative durations as 0).
 			return time.Until(nextBlock)