diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
index e54946456d4e..7c692fcb3f4e 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/apache/beam/gradle/BeamModulePlugin.groovy
@@ -635,6 +635,7 @@ class BeamModulePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
     def sbe_tool_version = "1.25.1"
     def singlestore_jdbc_version = "1.1.4"
     def slf4j_version = "1.7.30"
+    def snakeyaml_version = "2.2"
     def spark2_version = "2.4.8"
     def spark3_version = "3.2.2"
     def spotbugs_version = "4.0.6"
@@ -866,6 +867,7 @@ class BeamModulePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
         sbe_tool                                    : "uk.co.real-logic:sbe-tool:$sbe_tool_version",
         singlestore_jdbc                            : "com.singlestore:singlestore-jdbc-client:$singlestore_jdbc_version",
         slf4j_api                                   : "org.slf4j:slf4j-api:$slf4j_version",
+        snake_yaml                                  : "org.yaml:snakeyaml:$snakeyaml_version",
         slf4j_android                               : "org.slf4j:slf4j-android:$slf4j_version",
         slf4j_ext                                   : "org.slf4j:slf4j-ext:$slf4j_version",
         slf4j_jdk14                                 : "org.slf4j:slf4j-jdk14:$slf4j_version",
diff --git a/sdks/java/core/build.gradle b/sdks/java/core/build.gradle
index 5a47cb5237ea..e150c22de62d 100644
--- a/sdks/java/core/build.gradle
+++ b/sdks/java/core/build.gradle
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ dependencies {
   permitUnusedDeclared enforcedPlatform(library.java.google_cloud_platform_libraries_bom)
   provided library.java.json_org
   implementation library.java.everit_json_schema
-  implementation "org.yaml:snakeyaml:2.0"
+  implementation library.java.snake_yaml
   shadowTest library.java.everit_json_schema
   provided library.java.junit
   testImplementation "com.github.stefanbirkner:system-rules:1.19.0"
diff --git a/sdks/java/expansion-service/build.gradle b/sdks/java/expansion-service/build.gradle
index 206b2fe1bc46..2926bfad633f 100644
--- a/sdks/java/expansion-service/build.gradle
+++ b/sdks/java/expansion-service/build.gradle
@@ -41,10 +41,8 @@ dependencies {
   implementation project(path: ":sdks:java:core", configuration: "shadow")
   implementation project(path: ":runners:java-fn-execution")
   implementation project(path: ":sdks:java:harness")
+  implementation library.java.snake_yaml
   permitUnusedDeclared project(path: ":model:fn-execution")
-  implementation library.java.jackson_annotations
-  implementation library.java.jackson_databind
-  implementation library.java.jackson_dataformat_yaml
   implementation library.java.vendored_grpc_1_60_1
   implementation library.java.vendored_guava_32_1_2_jre
   implementation library.java.slf4j_api
diff --git a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/Dependency.java b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/Dependency.java
index 4b701e923dc9..579e135a65b8 100644
--- a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/Dependency.java
+++ b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/Dependency.java
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@
  */
 package org.apache.beam.sdk.expansion.service;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.google.auto.value.AutoValue;
 
 //// TODO(https://github.com/apache/beam/issues/26527): generalize to support other types of
@@ -27,8 +25,7 @@
 public abstract class Dependency {
   abstract String getPath();
 
-  @JsonCreator
-  static Dependency create(@JsonProperty("path") String path) {
+  static Dependency create(String path) {
     return new AutoValue_Dependency(path);
   }
 }
diff --git a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceConfig.java b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceConfig.java
index 868416141305..7d8d1266c57a 100644
--- a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceConfig.java
+++ b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceConfig.java
@@ -17,17 +17,19 @@
  */
 package org.apache.beam.sdk.expansion.service;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.google.auto.value.AutoValue;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml;
 
 @SuppressWarnings("nullness")
 @AutoValue
 public abstract class ExpansionServiceConfig {
+
   public abstract List<String> getAllowlist();
 
   public abstract Map<String, List<Dependency>> getDependencies();
@@ -36,14 +38,52 @@ public static ExpansionServiceConfig empty() {
     return create(new ArrayList<>(), new HashMap<>());
   }
 
-  @JsonCreator
-  static ExpansionServiceConfig create(
-      @JsonProperty("allowlist") List<String> allowlist,
-      @JsonProperty("dependencies") Map<String, List<Dependency>> dependencies) {
+  public static ExpansionServiceConfig create(
+      List<String> allowlist, Map<String, List<Dependency>> dependencies) {
     if (allowlist == null) {
       allowlist = new ArrayList<>();
     }
-    System.out.println("Dependencies list: " + dependencies);
     return new AutoValue_ExpansionServiceConfig(allowlist, dependencies);
   }
+
+  static ExpansionServiceConfig parseFromYamlStream(InputStream inputStream) {
+    Yaml yaml = new Yaml();
+    Map<Object, Object> config = yaml.load(inputStream);
+
+    if (config == null) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+          "Could not parse the provided YAML stream into a non-trivial ExpansionServiceConfig");
+    }
+
+    List<String> allowList = new ArrayList<>();
+    Map<String, List<Dependency>> dependencies = new HashMap<>();
+    if (config.get("allowlist") != null) {
+      allowList = (List<String>) config.get("allowlist");
+    }
+
+    if (config.get("dependencies") != null) {
+      Map<String, List<Object>> dependenciesFromConfig =
+          (Map<String, List<Object>>) config.get("dependencies");
+      dependenciesFromConfig.forEach(
+          (k, v) -> {
+            if (v != null) {
+              List<Dependency> dependenciesForTransform =
+                  v.stream()
+                      .map(
+                          val -> {
+                            Map<String, Object> depProperties = (Map<String, Object>) val;
+                            String path = (String) depProperties.get("path");
+                            if (path == null) {
+                              throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                                  "Expected the path to be not null");
+                            }
+                            return Dependency.create(path);
+                          })
+                      .collect(Collectors.toList());
+              dependencies.put(k, dependenciesForTransform);
+            }
+          });
+    }
+    return ExpansionServiceConfig.create(allowList, dependencies);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceOptions.java b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceOptions.java
index bc2dc95066c0..8862feac36c6 100644
--- a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceOptions.java
+++ b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceOptions.java
@@ -17,10 +17,11 @@
  */
 package org.apache.beam.sdk.expansion.service;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.yaml.YAMLFactory;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.expansion.service.JavaClassLookupTransformProvider.AllowList;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.options.Default;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.options.DefaultValueFactory;
@@ -78,17 +79,19 @@ public AllowList create(PipelineOptions options) {
         if (allowListFile.equals("*")) {
           return AllowList.everything();
         }
-        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper(new YAMLFactory());
         File allowListFileObj = new File(allowListFile);
         if (!allowListFileObj.exists()) {
           throw new IllegalArgumentException(
               "Allow list file " + allowListFile + " does not exist");
         }
-        try {
-          return mapper.readValue(allowListFileObj, AllowList.class);
+        try (InputStream stream = new FileInputStream(allowListFileObj)) {
+          return AllowList.parseFromYamlStream(stream);
+        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+          throw new RuntimeException(
+              "Could not parse the provided allowlist file " + allowListFile, e);
         } catch (IOException e) {
-          throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-              "Could not load the provided allowlist file " + allowListFile, e);
+          throw new RuntimeException(
+              "Could not parse the provided allowlist file " + allowListFile, e);
         }
       }
 
@@ -104,16 +107,18 @@ class ExpansionServiceConfigFactory implements DefaultValueFactory<ExpansionServ
     public ExpansionServiceConfig create(PipelineOptions options) {
       String configFile = options.as(ExpansionServiceOptions.class).getExpansionServiceConfigFile();
       if (configFile != null) {
-        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper(new YAMLFactory());
         File configFileObj = new File(configFile);
         if (!configFileObj.exists()) {
           throw new IllegalArgumentException("Config file " + configFile + " does not exist");
         }
-        try {
-          return mapper.readValue(configFileObj, ExpansionServiceConfig.class);
+        try (InputStream stream = new FileInputStream(configFileObj)) {
+          return ExpansionServiceConfig.parseFromYamlStream(stream);
+        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+          throw new RuntimeException(
+              "Could not parse the provided Expansion Service config file" + configFile, e);
         } catch (IOException e) {
-          throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-              "Could not load the provided config file " + configFile, e);
+          throw new RuntimeException(
+              "Could not parse the provided Expansion Service config file" + configFile, e);
         }
       }
 
diff --git a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/JavaClassLookupTransformProvider.java b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/JavaClassLookupTransformProvider.java
index 136b45fa7fa2..5e0820da468d 100644
--- a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/JavaClassLookupTransformProvider.java
+++ b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/JavaClassLookupTransformProvider.java
@@ -19,11 +19,10 @@
 
 import static org.apache.beam.sdk.util.construction.BeamUrns.getUrn;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.google.auto.value.AutoValue;
 import edu.umd.cs.findbugs.annotations.SuppressFBWarnings;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.lang.annotation.Annotation;
 import java.lang.reflect.Array;
 import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
@@ -36,6 +35,7 @@
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 import org.apache.beam.model.pipeline.v1.ExternalTransforms.BuilderMethod;
@@ -62,6 +62,7 @@
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.grpc.v1p60p1.com.google.protobuf.ByteString;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.grpc.v1p60p1.com.google.protobuf.InvalidProtocolBufferException;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.Nullable;
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml;
 
 /**
  * A transform provider that can be used to directly instantiate a transform using Java class name
@@ -488,6 +489,46 @@ public static AllowList everything() {
               AllowedClass.create("*", AllowedClass.WILDCARD, AllowedClass.WILDCARD)));
     }
 
+    static AllowList parseFromYamlStream(InputStream inputStream) {
+      Yaml yaml = new Yaml();
+      Map<Object, Object> config = yaml.load(inputStream);
+
+      if (config == null) {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+            "Could not parse the provided YAML stream into a non-trivial AllowList");
+      }
+
+      String version = config.get("version") != null ? (String) config.get("version") : "";
+      List<AllowedClass> allowedClasses = new ArrayList<>();
+      if (config.get("allowedClasses") != null) {
+        allowedClasses =
+            ((List<Map<Object, Object>>) config.get("allowedClasses"))
+                .stream()
+                    .map(
+                        data -> {
+                          String className = (String) data.get("className");
+                          if (className == null) {
+                            throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+                                "Expected each entry in the allowlist to include the 'className'");
+                          }
+                          List<String> allowedBuilderMethods =
+                              (List<String>) data.get("allowedBuilderMethods");
+                          List<String> allowedConstructorMethods =
+                              (List<String>) data.get("allowedConstructorMethods");
+                          if (allowedBuilderMethods == null) {
+                            allowedBuilderMethods = new ArrayList<>();
+                          }
+                          if (allowedConstructorMethods == null) {
+                            allowedConstructorMethods = new ArrayList<>();
+                          }
+                          return AllowedClass.create(
+                              className, allowedBuilderMethods, allowedConstructorMethods);
+                        })
+                    .collect(Collectors.toList());
+      }
+      return AllowList.create(version, allowedClasses);
+    }
+
     public abstract String getVersion();
 
     public abstract List<AllowedClass> getAllowedClasses();
@@ -512,11 +553,7 @@ public AllowedClass getAllowedClass(String className) {
       return allowlistClass;
     }
 
-    @JsonCreator
-    static AllowList create(
-        @JsonProperty("version") String version,
-        @JsonProperty("allowedClasses") @javax.annotation.Nullable
-            List<AllowedClass> allowedClasses) {
+    static AllowList create(String version, List<AllowedClass> allowedClasses) {
       if (allowedClasses == null) {
         allowedClasses = new ArrayList<>();
       }
@@ -553,13 +590,10 @@ public boolean isAllowedConstructorMethod(String methodName) {
           || getAllowedConstructorMethods().equals(WILDCARD);
     }
 
-    @JsonCreator
     static AllowedClass create(
-        @JsonProperty("className") String className,
-        @JsonProperty("allowedBuilderMethods") @javax.annotation.Nullable
-            List<String> allowedBuilderMethods,
-        @JsonProperty("allowedConstructorMethods") @javax.annotation.Nullable
-            List<String> allowedConstructorMethods) {
+        String className,
+        List<String> allowedBuilderMethods,
+        List<String> allowedConstructorMethods) {
       if (allowedBuilderMethods == null) {
         allowedBuilderMethods = new ArrayList<>();
       }
diff --git a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceTest.java b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceTest.java
index eb277917588d..3bd87c2ae5c7 100644
--- a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/ExpansionServiceTest.java
@@ -32,6 +32,11 @@
 import com.google.auto.service.AutoService;
 import com.google.auto.value.AutoValue;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -59,6 +64,7 @@
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
+import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.io.Resources;
 import org.checkerframework.checker.nullness.qual.Nullable;
 import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -338,6 +344,40 @@ public void testExternalConfiguration_simpleSchema() throws Exception {
     assertThat(config.getList(), Matchers.is(ImmutableList.of("abc", "123")));
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testExpansionServiceConfig() throws Exception {
+    URL expansionServiceConfigFile = Resources.getResource("./test_expansion_service_config.yaml");
+    ExpansionServiceConfig config =
+        ExpansionServiceConfig.parseFromYamlStream(
+            Files.newInputStream(Paths.get(expansionServiceConfigFile.getPath())));
+    assertEquals(3, config.getAllowlist().size());
+    assertTrue(config.getAllowlist().contains("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_1"));
+    assertTrue(config.getAllowlist().contains("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_2"));
+    assertTrue(config.getAllowlist().contains("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_3"));
+
+    assertEquals(2, config.getDependencies().size());
+    assertTrue(config.getDependencies().containsKey("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_2"));
+    assertTrue(config.getDependencies().containsKey("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_3"));
+
+    assertEquals(1, config.getDependencies().get("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_2").size());
+    assertEquals(
+        "jars/my_dummy_transform_2_dep1.jar",
+        config.getDependencies().get("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_2").get(0).getPath());
+    assertEquals(2, config.getDependencies().get("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_3").size());
+
+    ArrayList<String> expectedDepsOfTransform3 =
+        new ArrayList<>(
+            Arrays.asList(
+                "jars/my_dummy_transform_3_dep1.jar", "jars/my_dummy_transform_3_dep2.jar"));
+
+    assertTrue(
+        expectedDepsOfTransform3.contains(
+            config.getDependencies().get("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_3").get(0).getPath()));
+    assertTrue(
+        expectedDepsOfTransform3.contains(
+            config.getDependencies().get("beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_3").get(1).getPath()));
+  }
+
   @DefaultSchema(AutoValueSchema.class)
   @AutoValue
   abstract static class TestConfigSimpleSchema {
diff --git a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/JavaClassLookupTransformProviderTest.java b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/JavaClassLookupTransformProviderTest.java
index 34e22bc24122..cefd1c346390 100644
--- a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/JavaClassLookupTransformProviderTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/expansion/service/JavaClassLookupTransformProviderTest.java
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
-import java.io.File;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.Serializable;
 import java.net.URL;
@@ -88,7 +87,6 @@ public class JavaClassLookupTransformProviderTest {
   public static void setupExpansionService() {
     PipelineOptionsFactory.register(ExpansionServiceOptions.class);
     URL allowListFile = Resources.getResource("./test_allowlist.yaml");
-    System.out.println("Exists: " + new File(allowListFile.getPath()).exists());
     expansionService =
         new ExpansionService(
             new String[] {"--javaClassLookupAllowlistFile=" + allowListFile.getPath()});
diff --git a/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/resources/test_expansion_service_config.yaml b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/resources/test_expansion_service_config.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c0fa37cd0ab4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdks/java/expansion-service/src/test/resources/test_expansion_service_config.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+allowlist:
+- "beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_1"
+- "beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_2"
+- "beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_3"
+dependencies:
+  "beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_1":
+  "beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_2":
+  - path: "jars/my_dummy_transform_2_dep1.jar"
+  "beam:transform:my_dummy_transform_3":
+  - path: "jars/my_dummy_transform_3_dep1.jar"
+  - path: "jars/my_dummy_transform_3_dep2.jar"
diff --git a/sdks/java/transform-service/build.gradle b/sdks/java/transform-service/build.gradle
index 231f955cbe72..91e6185152da 100644
--- a/sdks/java/transform-service/build.gradle
+++ b/sdks/java/transform-service/build.gradle
@@ -43,9 +43,7 @@ dependencies {
     implementation project(path: ":sdks:java:core", configuration: "shadow")
     implementation library.java.vendored_grpc_1_60_1
     implementation library.java.vendored_guava_32_1_2_jre
-    implementation library.java.jackson_annotations
-    implementation library.java.jackson_databind
-    implementation library.java.jackson_dataformat_yaml
+    implementation library.java.snake_yaml
     testImplementation library.java.junit
     testImplementation library.java.mockito_core
     testImplementation project(path: ":runners:java-fn-execution")
diff --git a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/TransformServiceConfig.java b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/TransformServiceConfig.java
index 07ea5a2c3f48..bbada3205463 100644
--- a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/TransformServiceConfig.java
+++ b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/TransformServiceConfig.java
@@ -17,11 +17,12 @@
  */
 package org.apache.beam.sdk.transformservice;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonCreator;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.google.auto.value.AutoValue;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import org.yaml.snakeyaml.Yaml;
 
 @AutoValue
 public abstract class TransformServiceConfig {
@@ -31,13 +32,32 @@ public static TransformServiceConfig empty() {
     return create(new ArrayList<>());
   }
 
-  @JsonCreator
-  static TransformServiceConfig create(
-      @JsonProperty("expansionservices") List<String> expansionservices) {
+  static TransformServiceConfig create(List<String> expansionservices) {
     if (expansionservices == null) {
       expansionservices = new ArrayList<>();
     }
 
     return new AutoValue_TransformServiceConfig(expansionservices);
   }
+
+  static TransformServiceConfig parseFromYamlStream(InputStream inputStream) {
+    Yaml yaml = new Yaml();
+    Map<Object, Object> config = yaml.load(inputStream);
+    if (config == null) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+          "Could not parse the provided YAML stream into a non-trivial TransformServiceConfig");
+    }
+
+    List<String> expansionservices = null;
+    if (config.get("expansionservices") != null) {
+      expansionservices = (List<String>) config.get("expansionservices");
+    }
+
+    if (expansionservices == null) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+          "Expected the Transform Service config to contain at least one Expansion Service.");
+    }
+
+    return TransformServiceConfig.create(expansionservices);
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/TransformServiceOptions.java b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/TransformServiceOptions.java
index 558dffc5bcfb..721ff33d8e5a 100644
--- a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/TransformServiceOptions.java
+++ b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/main/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/TransformServiceOptions.java
@@ -17,10 +17,11 @@
  */
 package org.apache.beam.sdk.transformservice;
 
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
-import com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat.yaml.YAMLFactory;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.InputStream;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.options.Default;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.options.DefaultValueFactory;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.options.Description;
@@ -51,16 +52,18 @@ class TransformServiceConfigFactory implements DefaultValueFactory<TransformServ
     public TransformServiceConfig create(PipelineOptions options) {
       String configFile = options.as(TransformServiceOptions.class).getTransformServiceConfigFile();
       if (configFile != null) {
-        ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper(new YAMLFactory());
         File configFileObj = new File(configFile);
         if (!configFileObj.exists()) {
           throw new IllegalArgumentException("Config file " + configFile + " does not exist");
         }
-        try {
-          return mapper.readValue(configFileObj, TransformServiceConfig.class);
+        try (InputStream stream = new FileInputStream(configFileObj)) {
+          return TransformServiceConfig.parseFromYamlStream(stream);
+        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
+          throw new RuntimeException(
+              "Could not parse the provided Transform Service config file " + configFile, e);
         } catch (IOException e) {
-          throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-              "Could not load the provided config file " + configFile, e);
+          throw new RuntimeException(
+              "Could not parse the provided Transform Service config file " + configFile, e);
         }
       }
 
diff --git a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/ExpansionServiceTest.java b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/ExpansionServiceTest.java
index 857ae2017afb..36714f0a3064 100644
--- a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/ExpansionServiceTest.java
+++ b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/test/java/org/apache/beam/sdk/transformservice/ExpansionServiceTest.java
@@ -20,6 +20,9 @@
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
+import java.net.URL;
+import java.nio.file.Files;
+import java.nio.file.Paths;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import org.apache.beam.model.expansion.v1.ExpansionApi.DiscoverSchemaTransformRequest;
@@ -34,6 +37,7 @@
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.util.construction.ExpansionServiceClient;
 import org.apache.beam.sdk.util.construction.ExpansionServiceClientFactory;
 import org.apache.beam.vendor.grpc.v1p60p1.io.grpc.stub.StreamObserver;
+import org.apache.beam.vendor.guava.v32_1_2_jre.com.google.common.io.Resources;
 import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
@@ -231,4 +235,15 @@ public void testObserverNoEndpointsReturn() {
     Mockito.verify(responseObserver).onNext(discoverResponseCapture.capture());
     assertEquals(0, discoverResponseCapture.getValue().getSchemaTransformConfigsCount());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testLoadTransformServiceConfig() throws Exception {
+    URL transformServiceConfigFile = Resources.getResource("./test_transform_service_config.yml");
+    TransformServiceConfig config =
+        TransformServiceConfig.parseFromYamlStream(
+            Files.newInputStream(Paths.get(transformServiceConfigFile.getPath())));
+    assertEquals(2, config.getExpansionservices().size());
+    assertTrue(config.getExpansionservices().contains("dummy-service-1:5001"));
+    assertTrue(config.getExpansionservices().contains("dummy-service-2:5002"));
+  }
 }
diff --git a/sdks/java/transform-service/src/test/resources/test_transform_service_config.yml b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/test/resources/test_transform_service_config.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d423eba73609
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdks/java/transform-service/src/test/resources/test_transform_service_config.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+# http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+expansionservices:
+- dummy-service-1:5001
+- dummy-service-2:5002
\ No newline at end of file