diff --git a/.github/workflows/olm_tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/olm_tests.yaml
index aa8a3b172..b6932d893 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/olm_tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/olm_tests.yaml
@@ -92,6 +92,10 @@ jobs:
           echo Waiting for Deployment to be ready
           timeout 60 bash -c 'until [[ $(kubectl get deployment/codeflare-operator-manager -n '${{ env.SUBSCRIPTION_NAMESPACE }}') ]]; do sleep 5 && echo "$(kubectl get deployment/codeflare-operator-manager -n '${{ env.SUBSCRIPTION_NAMESPACE }}')"; done'
           kubectl wait -n ${{ env.SUBSCRIPTION_NAMESPACE }} deployment/codeflare-operator-manager --for=condition=Available=true --timeout=60s
+
+          echo Patch the CodeFlare operator ConfigMap
+          kubectl patch -n '${{ env.SUBSCRIPTION_NAMESPACE }}' cm codeflare-operator-config --type merge -p '{"data":{"config.yaml":"mcad:\n  enabled: true"}}'
+
         env:
           CATALOG_SOURCE_NAME: "codeflare-olm-test"
           CATALOG_SOURCE_NAMESPACE: "olm"
diff --git a/config/e2e/config.yaml b/config/e2e/config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4b01a4b0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/e2e/config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: ConfigMap
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: codeflare-operator-config
+data:
+  config.yaml: |
+    mcad:
+      enabled: true
diff --git a/config/e2e/kustomization.yaml b/config/e2e/kustomization.yaml
index e06123b2a..772370da6 100644
--- a/config/e2e/kustomization.yaml
+++ b/config/e2e/kustomization.yaml
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 namespace: openshift-operators
 
 bases:
+- config.yaml
 - ../default
 
 patches:
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 04cd33ec2..05a53f074 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -127,7 +127,9 @@ func main() {
 			},
 			LeaderElection: &configv1alpha1.LeaderElectionConfiguration{},
 		},
-		MCAD: &mcadconfig.MCADConfiguration{},
+		MCAD: &config.MCADConfiguration{
+			Enabled: pointer.Bool(false),
+		},
 		InstaScale: &config.InstaScaleConfiguration{
 			Enabled: pointer.Bool(false),
 			InstaScaleConfiguration: instascaleconfig.InstaScaleConfiguration{
@@ -167,12 +169,14 @@ func main() {
 	})
 	exitOnError(err, "unable to start manager")
 
-	mcadQueueController := mcad.NewJobController(mgr.GetConfig(), cfg.MCAD, &mcadconfig.MCADConfigurationExtended{})
-	if mcadQueueController == nil {
-		// FIXME: update NewJobController so it follows Go idiomatic error handling and return an error instead of a nil object
-		os.Exit(1)
+	if pointer.BoolDeref(cfg.MCAD.Enabled, false) {
+		mcadQueueController := mcad.NewJobController(mgr.GetConfig(), &cfg.MCAD.MCADConfiguration, &mcadconfig.MCADConfigurationExtended{})
+		if mcadQueueController == nil {
+			// FIXME: update NewJobController so it follows Go idiomatic error handling and return an error instead of a nil object
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
+		mcadQueueController.Run(ctx.Done())
 	}
-	mcadQueueController.Run(ctx.Done())
 
 	if pointer.BoolDeref(cfg.InstaScale.Enabled, false) {
 		instaScaleController := &instascale.AppWrapperReconciler{
diff --git a/pkg/config/config.go b/pkg/config/config.go
index 10b547676..85a03385c 100644
--- a/pkg/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/config/config.go
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ type CodeFlareOperatorConfiguration struct {
 	ControllerManager `json:",inline"`
 
 	// The MCAD controller configuration
-	MCAD *mcad.MCADConfiguration `json:"mcad,omitempty"`
+	MCAD *MCADConfiguration `json:"mcad,omitempty"`
 
 	// The InstaScale controller configuration
 	InstaScale *InstaScaleConfiguration `json:"instascale,omitempty"`
@@ -44,6 +44,15 @@ type KubeRayConfiguration struct {
 	RayDashboardOAuthEnabled *bool `json:"rayDashboardOAuthEnabled,omitempty"`
 }
 
+type MCADConfiguration struct {
+	// enabled controls whether the MCAD controller is started.
+	// It defaults to false.
+	Enabled *bool `json:"enabled,omitempty"`
+
+	// The InstaScale controller configuration
+	mcad.MCADConfiguration `json:",inline,omitempty"`
+}
+
 type InstaScaleConfiguration struct {
 	// enabled controls whether the InstaScale controller is started.
 	// It may default to true on platforms that InstaScale supports.