diff --git a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/pom.xml b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/pom.xml
index eb2fc63f8b2f..80e61cec9ee6 100644
--- a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/pom.xml
+++ b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/pom.xml
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@
     <relativePath>../../pom.xml</relativePath>
   </parent>
 
+  <properties>
+    <!-- fabric8 6.13.2+ is incompatible with jackson 2.12
+       ~ due to fix for https://github.com/fabric8io/kubernetes-client/issues/6110.
+       ~ GoIntegerDeserializer uses a _parseInteger method that does not exist in 2.12 (introduced in 2.14) -->
+    <fabric8.version>6.13.1</fabric8.version>
+  </properties>
+
   <dependencyManagement>
       <dependencies>
             <!-- snakeyaml explicitly pinned to version 1.33 as it is
@@ -111,7 +118,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
       <artifactId>kubernetes-model-core</artifactId>
-      <version>6.7.2</version>
+      <version>${fabric8.version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>jakarta.validation</groupId>
@@ -121,18 +128,34 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
       <artifactId>kubernetes-model-batch</artifactId>
-      <version>6.7.2</version>
+      <version>${fabric8.version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
       <artifactId>kubernetes-client-api</artifactId>
-      <version>6.7.2</version>
+      <version>${fabric8.version}</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
       <artifactId>kubernetes-client</artifactId>
-      <version>6.7.2</version>
+      <version>${fabric8.version}</version>
       <scope>runtime</scope>
+      <exclusions>
+        <exclusion>
+          <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
+          <artifactId>kubernetes-httpclient-okhttp</artifactId>
+        </exclusion>
+      </exclusions>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
+      <artifactId>kubernetes-httpclient-vertx</artifactId>
+      <version>${fabric8.version}</version>
+    </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>io.vertx</groupId>
+      <artifactId>vertx-core</artifactId>
+      <version>4.5.8</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>javax.ws.rs</groupId>
@@ -169,7 +192,7 @@
     <dependency>
       <groupId>io.fabric8</groupId>
       <artifactId>kubernetes-server-mock</artifactId>
-      <version>6.4.1</version>
+      <version>${fabric8.version}</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
diff --git a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/KubernetesOverlordModule.java b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/KubernetesOverlordModule.java
index 1b07a34b43c8..6320eb7df20a 100644
--- a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/KubernetesOverlordModule.java
+++ b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/KubernetesOverlordModule.java
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@
 import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.lifecycle.Lifecycle;
 import org.apache.druid.java.util.common.logger.Logger;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.DruidKubernetesClient;
+import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.execution.KubernetesTaskExecutionConfigResource;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.execution.KubernetesTaskRunnerDynamicConfig;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.runnerstrategy.RunnerStrategy;
@@ -85,6 +86,7 @@ public class KubernetesOverlordModule implements DruidModule
                                                                + ".k8sAndWorker";
   private static final String RUNNERSTRATEGY_PROPERTIES_FORMAT_STRING = K8SANDWORKER_PROPERTIES_PREFIX
                                                                         + ".runnerStrategy.%s";
+  private static final String HTTPCLIENT_PROPERITES_PREFIX = K8SANDWORKER_PROPERTIES_PREFIX + ".http";
 
   @Override
   public void configure(Binder binder)
@@ -119,22 +121,28 @@ public void configure(Binder binder)
     configureTaskLogs(binder);
 
     Jerseys.addResource(binder, KubernetesTaskExecutionConfigResource.class);
+
+    JsonConfigProvider.bind(binder, HTTPCLIENT_PROPERITES_PREFIX, DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig.class);
   }
 
   @Provides
   @LazySingleton
-  public DruidKubernetesClient makeKubernetesClient(KubernetesTaskRunnerConfig kubernetesTaskRunnerConfig, Lifecycle lifecycle)
+  public DruidKubernetesClient makeKubernetesClient(
+      KubernetesTaskRunnerConfig kubernetesTaskRunnerConfig,
+      DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig httpClientConfig,
+      Lifecycle lifecycle
+  )
   {
-    DruidKubernetesClient client;
+    final DruidKubernetesClient client;
+    final Config config = new ConfigBuilder().build();
+
     if (kubernetesTaskRunnerConfig.isDisableClientProxy()) {
-      Config config = new ConfigBuilder().build();
       config.setHttpsProxy(null);
       config.setHttpProxy(null);
-      client = new DruidKubernetesClient(config);
-    } else {
-      client = new DruidKubernetesClient();
     }
 
+    client = new DruidKubernetesClient(httpClientConfig, config);
+
     lifecycle.addHandler(
         new Lifecycle.Handler()
         {
diff --git a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesClient.java b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesClient.java
index f1f81bed8d8d..9c1940bb1f44 100644
--- a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesClient.java
+++ b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesClient.java
@@ -20,25 +20,19 @@
 package org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common;
 
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.Config;
-import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.ConfigBuilder;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClient;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClientBuilder;
 
 public class DruidKubernetesClient implements KubernetesClientApi
 {
-
-  private final Config config;
   private final KubernetesClient kubernetesClient;
 
-  public DruidKubernetesClient()
-  {
-    this(new ConfigBuilder().build());
-  }
-
-  public DruidKubernetesClient(Config config)
+  public DruidKubernetesClient(DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig httpClientConfig, Config kubernetesClientConfig)
   {
-    this.config = config;
-    this.kubernetesClient = new KubernetesClientBuilder().withConfig(config).build();
+    this.kubernetesClient = new KubernetesClientBuilder()
+        .withHttpClientFactory(new DruidKubernetesHttpClientFactory(httpClientConfig))
+        .withConfig(kubernetesClientConfig)
+        .build();
   }
 
   @Override
@@ -47,8 +41,10 @@ public <T> T executeRequest(KubernetesExecutor<T> executor) throws KubernetesRes
     return executor.executeRequest(kubernetesClient);
   }
 
-  /** This client automatically gets closed by the druid lifecycle, it should not be closed when used as it is
+  /**
+   * This client automatically gets closed by the druid lifecycle, it should not be closed when used as it is
    * meant to be reused.
+   *
    * @return re-useable KubernetesClient
    */
   @Override
diff --git a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig.java b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b659f8e9af50
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig.java
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common;
+
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
+import io.vertx.core.VertxOptions;
+
+public class DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig
+{
+  @JsonProperty
+  private int workerPoolSize = VertxOptions.DEFAULT_WORKER_POOL_SIZE;
+
+  @JsonProperty
+  private int eventLoopPoolSize = VertxOptions.DEFAULT_EVENT_LOOP_POOL_SIZE;
+
+  @JsonProperty
+  private int internalBlockingPoolSize = VertxOptions.DEFAULT_INTERNAL_BLOCKING_POOL_SIZE;
+
+  public int getWorkerPoolSize()
+  {
+    return workerPoolSize;
+  }
+
+  public int getEventLoopPoolSize()
+  {
+    return eventLoopPoolSize;
+  }
+
+  public int getInternalBlockingPoolSize()
+  {
+    return internalBlockingPoolSize;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesHttpClientFactory.java b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesHttpClientFactory.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..1924eb11d819
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/main/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/common/DruidKubernetesHttpClientFactory.java
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you 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.
+ */
+
+package org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common;
+
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.http.HttpClient;
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.vertx.VertxHttpClientBuilder;
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.vertx.VertxHttpClientFactory;
+import io.vertx.core.Vertx;
+import io.vertx.core.VertxOptions;
+import io.vertx.core.file.FileSystemOptions;
+import io.vertx.core.spi.resolver.ResolverProvider;
+
+/**
+ * Similar to {@link VertxHttpClientFactory} but allows us to override thread pool configurations.
+ */
+public class DruidKubernetesHttpClientFactory implements HttpClient.Factory
+{
+  private final Vertx vertx;
+
+  public DruidKubernetesHttpClientFactory(final DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig httpClientConfig)
+  {
+    this.vertx = createVertxInstance(httpClientConfig);
+  }
+
+  @Override
+  public VertxHttpClientBuilder<DruidKubernetesHttpClientFactory> newBuilder()
+  {
+    return new VertxHttpClientBuilder<>(this, vertx);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Adapted from fabric8 kubernetes-client 7.1.0. We bring this here so we can customize thread pool sizes
+   * and force usage of daemon threads.
+   */
+  private static Vertx createVertxInstance(final DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig httpClientConfig)
+  {
+    // fabric8 disables the async DNS resolver while creating Vertx.
+    // I'm not sure if we really need to do this, but I'm keeping it to align behavior with upstream.
+    final String originalDnsResolverProperty = System.getProperty(ResolverProvider.DISABLE_DNS_RESOLVER_PROP_NAME);
+    Vertx vertx;
+    try {
+      System.setProperty(ResolverProvider.DISABLE_DNS_RESOLVER_PROP_NAME, "true");
+      vertx = Vertx.vertx(
+          new VertxOptions()
+              .setFileSystemOptions(
+                  new FileSystemOptions().setFileCachingEnabled(false)
+                                         .setClassPathResolvingEnabled(false)
+              )
+              .setWorkerPoolSize(httpClientConfig.getWorkerPoolSize())
+              .setEventLoopPoolSize(httpClientConfig.getEventLoopPoolSize())
+              .setInternalBlockingPoolSize(httpClientConfig.getInternalBlockingPoolSize())
+              .setUseDaemonThread(true)
+      );
+    }
+    finally {
+      if (originalDnsResolverProperty == null) {
+        System.clearProperty(ResolverProvider.DISABLE_DNS_RESOLVER_PROP_NAME);
+      } else {
+        System.setProperty(ResolverProvider.DISABLE_DNS_RESOLVER_PROP_NAME, originalDnsResolverProperty);
+      }
+    }
+
+    return vertx;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/KubernetesTaskRunnerFactoryTest.java b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/KubernetesTaskRunnerFactoryTest.java
index d12aae08a55f..49720642216f 100644
--- a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/KubernetesTaskRunnerFactoryTest.java
+++ b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/KubernetesTaskRunnerFactoryTest.java
@@ -21,10 +21,12 @@
 
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.batch.v1.Job;
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.ConfigBuilder;
 import org.apache.druid.indexing.common.TestUtils;
 import org.apache.druid.indexing.common.task.Task;
 import org.apache.druid.java.util.emitter.service.ServiceEmitter;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.DruidKubernetesClient;
+import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.K8sTaskId;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.taskadapter.TaskAdapter;
 import org.apache.druid.tasklogs.NoopTaskLogs;
@@ -54,7 +56,8 @@ public void setup()
         .withCapacity(1)
         .build();
     taskLogs = new NoopTaskLogs();
-    druidKubernetesClient = new DruidKubernetesClient();
+    druidKubernetesClient =
+        new DruidKubernetesClient(new DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig(), new ConfigBuilder().build());
     taskAdapter = new TestTaskAdapter();
   }
 
diff --git a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/taskadapter/DruidPeonClientIntegrationTest.java b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/taskadapter/DruidPeonClientIntegrationTest.java
index cd865e256ee5..446c2502fa11 100644
--- a/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/taskadapter/DruidPeonClientIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions/src/test/java/org/apache/druid/k8s/overlord/taskadapter/DruidPeonClientIntegrationTest.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.Pod;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.PodSpec;
 import io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.batch.v1.Job;
+import io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.ConfigBuilder;
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.druid.indexing.common.TestUtils;
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@
 import org.apache.druid.indexing.common.task.batch.parallel.ParallelIndexTuningConfig;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.KubernetesTaskRunnerConfig;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.DruidKubernetesClient;
+import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.JobResponse;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.K8sTaskId;
 import org.apache.druid.k8s.overlord.common.K8sTestUtils;
@@ -85,7 +87,7 @@ public void setup()
         new NamedType(ParallelIndexTuningConfig.class, "index_parallel"),
         new NamedType(IndexTask.IndexTuningConfig.class, "index")
     );
-    k8sClient = new DruidKubernetesClient();
+    k8sClient = new DruidKubernetesClient(new DruidKubernetesHttpClientConfig(), new ConfigBuilder().build());
     peonClient = new KubernetesPeonClient(k8sClient, "default", false, new NoopServiceEmitter());
     druidNode = new DruidNode(
         "test",
diff --git a/licenses.yaml b/licenses.yaml
index eb47a93aadaf..33c09795182f 100644
--- a/licenses.yaml
+++ b/licenses.yaml
@@ -855,7 +855,7 @@ name: kubernetes fabric java client
 license_category: binary
 module: extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions
 license_name: Apache License version 2.0
-version: 6.7.2
+version: 6.13.1
 libraries:
   - io.fabric8: kubernetes-client-api
   - io.fabric8: kubernetes-model-batch
@@ -880,6 +880,19 @@ libraries:
   - io.fabric8: kubernetes-model-resource
   - io.fabric8: kubernetes-model-scheduling
   - io.fabric8: kubernetes-model-storageclass
+  - io.fabric8: kubernetes-httpclient-vertx
+---
+
+name: vertx
+license_category: binary
+module: extensions-core/kubernetes-overlord-extensions
+license_name: Apache License version 2.0
+version: 4.5.8
+libraries:
+  - io.vertx: vertx-auth-common
+  - io.vertx: vertx-core
+  - io.vertx: vertx-web-client
+  - io.vertx: vertx-web-common
 ---
 
 name: kubernetes official java client
@@ -1051,7 +1064,7 @@ name: org.snakeyaml snakeyaml-engine
 license_category: binary
 module: extensions-core/druid-kubernetes-overlord-extensions
 license_name: Apache License version 2.0
-version: 2.6
+version: 2.7
 libraries:
   - org.snakeyaml: snakeyaml-engine