diff --git a/cmd/osbuild-worker/config.go b/cmd/osbuild-worker/config.go
index b968f687f..2f0d9b76a 100644
--- a/cmd/osbuild-worker/config.go
+++ b/cmd/osbuild-worker/config.go
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"os"
 
 	"github.com/BurntSushi/toml"
+	"github.com/osbuild/osbuild-composer/internal/upload/azure"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
@@ -27,7 +29,8 @@ type gcpConfig struct {
 }
 
 type azureConfig struct {
-	Credentials string `toml:"credentials"`
+	Credentials   string `toml:"credentials"`
+	UploadThreads int    `toml:"upload_threads"`
 }
 
 type awsConfig struct {
@@ -90,5 +93,14 @@ func parseConfig(file string) (*workerConfig, error) {
 		logrus.Info("Configuration file not found, using defaults")
 	}
 
+	// set defaults for Azure only if the config section is present
+	if config.Azure != nil {
+		if config.Azure.UploadThreads == 0 {
+			config.Azure.UploadThreads = azure.DefaultUploadThreads
+		} else if config.Azure.UploadThreads < 0 {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid number of Azure upload threads: %d", config.Azure.UploadThreads)
+		}
+	}
+
 	return &config, nil
 }
diff --git a/cmd/osbuild-worker/config_test.go b/cmd/osbuild-worker/config_test.go
index ebea302b8..aa2cb33b7 100644
--- a/cmd/osbuild-worker/config_test.go
+++ b/cmd/osbuild-worker/config_test.go
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ credentials = "/etc/osbuild-worker/gcp-creds"
 
 [azure]
 credentials = "/etc/osbuild-worker/azure-creds"
+upload_threads = 8
 
 [aws]
 credentials = "/etc/osbuild-worker/aws-creds"
@@ -88,7 +89,8 @@ offline_token = "/etc/osbuild-worker/offline_token"
 					Credentials: "/etc/osbuild-worker/gcp-creds",
 				},
 				Azure: &azureConfig{
-					Credentials: "/etc/osbuild-worker/azure-creds",
+					Credentials:   "/etc/osbuild-worker/azure-creds",
+					UploadThreads: 8,
 				},
 				AWS: &awsConfig{
 					Credentials: "/etc/osbuild-worker/aws-creds",
@@ -141,6 +143,17 @@ offline_token = "/etc/osbuild-worker/offline_token"
 		_, err := parseConfig(configFile)
 		require.Error(t, err)
 	})
+
+	t.Run("wrong Azure config", func(t *testing.T) {
+		configFile := prepareConfig(t, `
+[azure]
+credentials = "/etc/osbuild-worker/azure-creds"
+upload_threads = -5
+`)
+		_, err := parseConfig(configFile)
+		require.Error(t, err)
+	})
+
 }
 
 func prepareConfig(t *testing.T, config string) string {
diff --git a/cmd/osbuild-worker/jobimpl-osbuild.go b/cmd/osbuild-worker/jobimpl-osbuild.go
index 9c6124539..3114abd89 100644
--- a/cmd/osbuild-worker/jobimpl-osbuild.go
+++ b/cmd/osbuild-worker/jobimpl-osbuild.go
@@ -53,12 +53,17 @@ type ContainersConfiguration struct {
 	TLSVerify    *bool
 }
 
+type AzureConfiguration struct {
+	Creds         *azure.Credentials
+	UploadThreads int
+}
+
 type OSBuildJobImpl struct {
 	Store            string
 	Output           string
 	KojiServers      map[string]kojiServer
 	GCPConfig        GCPConfiguration
-	AzureCreds       *azure.Credentials
+	AzureConfig      AzureConfiguration
 	AWSCreds         string
 	AWSBucket        string
 	S3Config         S3Configuration
@@ -639,12 +644,12 @@ func (impl *OSBuildJobImpl) Run(job worker.Job) error {
 			targetResult = target.NewAzureImageTargetResult(nil)
 			ctx := context.Background()
 
-			if impl.AzureCreds == nil {
+			if impl.AzureConfig.Creds == nil {
 				targetResult.TargetError = clienterrors.WorkerClientError(clienterrors.ErrorSharingTarget, "osbuild job has org.osbuild.azure.image target but this worker doesn't have azure credentials", nil)
 				break
 			}
 
-			c, err := azure.NewClient(*impl.AzureCreds, targetOptions.TenantID)
+			c, err := azure.NewClient(*impl.AzureConfig.Creds, targetOptions.TenantID)
 			if err != nil {
 				targetResult.TargetError = clienterrors.WorkerClientError(clienterrors.ErrorInvalidTargetConfig, err.Error(), nil)
 				break
@@ -738,7 +743,7 @@ func (impl *OSBuildJobImpl) Run(job worker.Job) error {
 					BlobName:       blobName,
 				},
 				imagePath,
-				azure.DefaultUploadThreads,
+				impl.AzureConfig.UploadThreads,
 			)
 			if err != nil {
 				targetResult.TargetError = clienterrors.WorkerClientError(clienterrors.ErrorUploadingImage, fmt.Sprintf("uploading the image failed: %v", err), nil)
diff --git a/cmd/osbuild-worker/main.go b/cmd/osbuild-worker/main.go
index 51b989cf4..fa767db72 100644
--- a/cmd/osbuild-worker/main.go
+++ b/cmd/osbuild-worker/main.go
@@ -341,12 +341,13 @@ func main() {
 	// Load Azure credentials early. If the credentials file is malformed,
 	// we can report the issue early instead of waiting for the first osbuild
 	// job with the org.osbuild.azure.image target.
-	var azureCredentials *azure.Credentials
+	var azureConfig AzureConfiguration
 	if config.Azure != nil {
-		azureCredentials, err = azure.ParseAzureCredentialsFile(config.Azure.Credentials)
+		azureConfig.Creds, err = azure.ParseAzureCredentialsFile(config.Azure.Credentials)
 		if err != nil {
 			logrus.Fatalf("cannot load azure credentials: %v", err)
 		}
+		azureConfig.UploadThreads = config.Azure.UploadThreads
 	}
 
 	// If the credentials are not provided in the configuration, then the
@@ -437,7 +438,7 @@ func main() {
 			Output:      output,
 			KojiServers: kojiServers,
 			GCPConfig:   gcpConfig,
-			AzureCreds:  azureCredentials,
+			AzureConfig: azureConfig,
 			AWSCreds:    awsCredentials,
 			AWSBucket:   awsBucket,
 			S3Config: S3Configuration{