diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 2efe4ded8..4ae3f5e0f 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ require (
 	github.com/go-bindata/go-bindata v3.1.2+incompatible
 	github.com/golang/glog v0.0.0-20160126235308-23def4e6c14b
 	github.com/golang/mock v1.4.3
+	github.com/google/uuid v1.1.1
 	github.com/openshift/api v0.0.0-20200728181127-fc1d675671df
 	github.com/openshift/build-machinery-go v0.0.0-20200713135615-1f43d26dccc7
 	github.com/openshift/client-go v0.0.0-20200722173614-5a1b0aaeff15
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/operator/cmd.go b/pkg/cmd/operator/cmd.go
index 0f737e362..f42d7d154 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/operator/cmd.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/operator/cmd.go
@@ -17,11 +17,16 @@ limitations under the License.
 package cmd
 
 import (
+	"context"
 	"flag"
 	golog "log"
+	"os"
+	"os/signal"
+	"syscall"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
+	"github.com/google/uuid"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
@@ -30,8 +35,12 @@ import (
 	controller "github.com/openshift/cloud-credential-operator/pkg/operator"
 	"github.com/openshift/cloud-credential-operator/pkg/util"
 
+	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/wait"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
 	_ "k8s.io/client-go/plugin/pkg/client/auth/gcp"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/leaderelection"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/leaderelection/resourcelock"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client/config"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/manager"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/runtime/signals"
@@ -67,35 +76,95 @@ func NewOperator() *cobra.Command {
 				log.WithError(err).Fatal("unable to set up client config")
 			}
 
-			// Create a new Cmd to provide shared dependencies and start components
-			log.Info("setting up manager")
-			mgr, err := manager.New(cfg, manager.Options{
-				MetricsBindAddress:      ":2112",
-				LeaderElection:          true,
-				LeaderElectionNamespace: minterv1.CloudCredOperatorNamespace,
-				LeaderElectionID:        leaderElectionConfigMap,
-			})
-			if err != nil {
-				log.WithError(err).Fatal("unable to set up overall controller manager")
+			run := func(ctx context.Context) {
+				// Create a new Cmd to provide shared dependencies and start components
+				log.Info("setting up manager")
+				mgr, err := manager.New(cfg, manager.Options{
+					MetricsBindAddress: ":2112",
+				})
+				if err != nil {
+					log.WithError(err).Fatal("unable to set up overall controller manager")
+				}
+
+				log.Info("registering components")
+
+				// Setup Scheme for all resources
+				util.SetupScheme(mgr.GetScheme())
+
+				// Setup all Controllers
+				log.Info("setting up controller")
+				kubeconfigCommandLinePath := cmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("kubeconfig").Value.String()
+				if err := controller.AddToManager(mgr, kubeconfigCommandLinePath); err != nil {
+					log.WithError(err).Fatal("unable to register controllers to the manager")
+				}
+
+				// Start the Cmd
+				log.Info("starting the cmd")
+				if err := mgr.Start(signals.SetupSignalHandler()); err != nil {
+					log.WithError(err).Fatal("unable to run the manager")
+				}
 			}
 
-			log.Info("registering components")
-
-			// Setup Scheme for all resources
-			util.SetupScheme(mgr.GetScheme())
-
-			// Setup all Controllers
-			log.Info("setting up controller")
-			kubeconfigCommandLinePath := cmd.PersistentFlags().Lookup("kubeconfig").Value.String()
-			if err := controller.AddToManager(mgr, kubeconfigCommandLinePath); err != nil {
-				log.WithError(err).Fatal("unable to register controllers to the manager")
+			// Leader election code based on:
+			// https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/f7e3bcdec2e090b7361a61e21c20b3dbbb41b7f0/staging/src/k8s.io/client-go/examples/leader-election/main.go#L92-L154
+			// This gives us ReleaseOnCancel which is not presently exposed in controller-runtime.
+
+			// use a Go context so we can tell the leaderelection code when we want to step down
+			ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
+			defer cancel()
+
+			// listen for interrupts or the Linux SIGTERM signal and cancel
+			// our context, which the leader election code will observe and
+			// step down
+			ch := make(chan os.Signal, 1)
+			signal.Notify(ch, os.Interrupt, syscall.SIGTERM)
+			go func() {
+				<-ch
+				log.Info("received termination, signaling shutdown")
+				cancel()
+			}()
+
+			id := uuid.New().String()
+			leLog := log.WithField("id", id)
+			leLog.Info("generated leader election ID")
+
+			lock := &resourcelock.ConfigMapLock{
+				ConfigMapMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+					Namespace: minterv1.CloudCredOperatorNamespace,
+					Name:      leaderElectionConfigMap,
+				},
+				Client: kubernetes.NewForConfigOrDie(cfg).CoreV1(),
+				LockConfig: resourcelock.ResourceLockConfig{
+					Identity: id,
+				},
 			}
 
-			// Start the Cmd
-			log.Info("starting the cmd")
-			if err := mgr.Start(signals.SetupSignalHandler()); err != nil {
-				log.WithError(err).Fatal("unable to run the manager")
-			}
+			// start the leader election code loop
+			leaderelection.RunOrDie(ctx, leaderelection.LeaderElectionConfig{
+				Lock:            lock,
+				ReleaseOnCancel: true,
+				LeaseDuration:   360 * time.Second,
+				RenewDeadline:   270 * time.Second,
+				RetryPeriod:     90 * time.Second,
+				Callbacks: leaderelection.LeaderCallbacks{
+					OnStartedLeading: func(ctx context.Context) {
+						run(ctx)
+					},
+					OnStoppedLeading: func() {
+						// we can do cleanup here if necessary
+						leLog.Infof("leader lost")
+						os.Exit(0)
+					},
+					OnNewLeader: func(identity string) {
+						if identity == id {
+							// We just became the leader
+							leLog.Info("became leader")
+							return
+						}
+						log.Infof("current leader: %s", identity)
+					},
+				},
+			})
 		},
 	}