diff --git a/charts/substrate/templates/rustfs.yaml b/charts/substrate/templates/rustfs.yaml
index ab04cb1a20..fd7443877b 100644
--- a/charts/substrate/templates/rustfs.yaml
+++ b/charts/substrate/templates/rustfs.yaml
@@ -108,6 +108,9 @@ kind: Job
 metadata:
   name: {{ include "substrate.fullname" (list "rustfs-bucket-init" .) }}
   namespace: {{ .Release.Namespace }}
+  annotations:
+    "helm.sh/hook": post-install,post-upgrade
+    "helm.sh/hook-delete-policy": before-hook-creation,hook-succeeded
 spec:
   backoffLimit: 10
   template:
diff --git a/charts/substrate/tests/control_plane_test.yaml b/charts/substrate/tests/control_plane_test.yaml
index 44c6938fa5..be9d2b76ad 100644
--- a/charts/substrate/tests/control_plane_test.yaml
+++ b/charts/substrate/tests/control_plane_test.yaml
@@ -161,3 +161,15 @@ tests:
       value:
       - protocol: TCP
         port: api
+- it: removes the bucket initialization job after it succeeds
+  template: rustfs.yaml
+  documentSelector:
+    path: kind
+    value: Job
+  asserts:
+  - equal:
+      path: metadata.annotations["helm.sh/hook"]
+      value: post-install,post-upgrade
+  - equal:
+      path: metadata.annotations["helm.sh/hook-delete-policy"]
+      value: before-hook-creation,hook-succeeded
diff --git a/hack/install-microvm-deps.sh b/hack/install-microvm-deps.sh
index e37fd313ad..cc4516952e 100755
--- a/hack/install-microvm-deps.sh
+++ b/hack/install-microvm-deps.sh
@@ -208,7 +208,6 @@ fi
 # in-cluster rustfs (S3 API) on kind, or the GCS bucket on GKE.
 if [[ "${ATE_INSTALL_KIND}" == "true" ]]; then
   log "Staging assets to in-cluster rustfs bucket ${BUCKET_NAME} (kata-assets/)..."
-  run_kubectl wait --for=condition=complete job/rustfs-bucket-init -n ate-system --timeout=120s
   OUT="${OUT}" BUCKET="${BUCKET_NAME}" KUBECTL_CONTEXT="${KUBECTL_CONTEXT}" hack/microvm-assets/stage-to-rustfs.sh
 else
   log "Uploading assets to gs://${BUCKET_NAME}/kata-assets/ ..."
diff --git a/hack/microvm-assets/stage-to-rustfs.sh b/hack/microvm-assets/stage-to-rustfs.sh
index 2f8c66f7b2..43d17aeae5 100755
--- a/hack/microvm-assets/stage-to-rustfs.sh
+++ b/hack/microvm-assets/stage-to-rustfs.sh
@@ -72,7 +72,11 @@ done
 # rustfs must be serving and the bucket must exist before anything is uploaded.
 echo ">> Waiting for rustfs in namespace ${NAMESPACE}..."
 run_kubectl rollout status deploy/rustfs --timeout=300s
-run_kubectl wait --for=condition=Complete job/rustfs-bucket-init --timeout=300s
+# Helm removes the initialization Job after its hook succeeds, while plain
+# kubectl installs retain it. Wait for the Job only when it is still present.
+if run_kubectl get job/rustfs-bucket-init >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  run_kubectl wait --for=condition=Complete job/rustfs-bucket-init --timeout=300s
+fi
 
 NODE="$("${ROOT}/hack/kind.sh" get nodes --name "${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}" | head -n1)"
 if [[ -z "${NODE}" ]]; then
diff --git a/manifests/ate-install/rustfs.yaml b/manifests/ate-install/rustfs.yaml
index 0256197359..dafd6ec6d9 100644
--- a/manifests/ate-install/rustfs.yaml
+++ b/manifests/ate-install/rustfs.yaml
@@ -139,6 +139,9 @@ kind: Job
 metadata:
   name: rustfs-bucket-init
   namespace: ate-system
+  annotations:
+    "helm.sh/hook": post-install,post-upgrade
+    "helm.sh/hook-delete-policy": before-hook-creation,hook-succeeded
 spec:
   backoffLimit: 10
   template: