diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f4fa8b4..5464a66 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -90,9 +90,35 @@ defmodule MyApp.MailQueuetopia do
   use Queuetopia,
     otp_app: :my_app,
     performer: MyApp.MailQueuetopia.Performer,
-    repo: MyApp.Repo
+    repo: MyApp.Repo,
+    cleanup_interval: {1, :day},  
+    job_retention: {7, :day},
+    job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: 100
 end
 ```
+#### Job Cleanup Configuration
+
+Queuetopia provides automatic cleanup of completed jobs with the following options:
+
+- **`cleanup_interval`** *(optional)* - Defines how often the job cleaner runs. Must be a tuple like `{1, :day}`, `{2, :hour}`, `{30, :minute}`, etc. If not set, job cleanup is **disabled** and completed jobs will remain in the database indefinitely.
+
+- **`job_retention`** *(optional)* - Defines how long completed jobs are kept before being deleted. Defaults to `{7, :day}` (7 days). Must be a tuple specifying the duration.
+
+- **`job_cleaner_max_initial_delay`** *(optional)* - Maximum delay in milliseconds before the first cleanup runs when the JobCleaner starts. A random delay between 0 and this value is used to prevent multiple nodes from running cleanup simultaneously. If set to 0, cleanup runs immediately on startup. Defaults to a reasonable value to distribute cleanup across nodes.
+
+**Examples:**
+```elixir
+# Cleanup every hour, keep jobs for 3 days, start immediately
+cleanup_interval: {1, :hour},
+job_retention: {3, :day},
+job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: 0
+
+# Cleanup twice daily, keep jobs for 2 weeks, random startup delay up to 5 minutes
+cleanup_interval: {12, :hour},
+job_retention: {14, :day},
+job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: 300_000
+```
+ 
 A Queuetopia expects a performer to exist.
 For example, the performer can be implemented like this:
 
diff --git a/lib/job_cleaner.ex b/lib/job_cleaner.ex
deleted file mode 100644
index c8df631..0000000
--- a/lib/job_cleaner.ex
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,46 +0,0 @@
-defmodule Queuetopia.JobCleaner do
-  @moduledoc """
-  Removes completed jobs from the queue periodically.
-
-  This GenServer runs in the background and cleans up
-  old completed jobs based on the configured interval.
-  """
-
-  use GenServer
-  alias Queuetopia.Queue
-
-  def start_link(opts) do
-    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, opts, name: opts[:name])
-  end
-
-  @impl true
-  def init(opts) do
-    Process.send(self(), :cleanup, [])
-
-    state = %{
-      repo: Keyword.fetch!(opts, :repo),
-      scope: Keyword.fetch!(opts, :scope),
-      cleanup_interval: Keyword.fetch!(opts, :cleanup_interval),
-      job_retention: Keyword.get(opts, :job_retention)
-    }
-
-    {:ok, state}
-  end
-
-  @impl true
-  def handle_info(
-        :cleanup,
-        %{
-          repo: repo,
-          scope: scope,
-          cleanup_interval: cleanup_interval,
-          job_retention: job_retention
-        } = state
-      ) do
-    Queue.cleanup_completed_jobs(repo, scope, job_retention)
-
-    Process.send_after(self(), :cleanup, cleanup_interval)
-
-    {:noreply, state}
-  end
-end
diff --git a/lib/queuetopia.ex b/lib/queuetopia.ex
index cf3f5d5..0df1ab1 100644
--- a/lib/queuetopia.ex
+++ b/lib/queuetopia.ex
@@ -56,8 +56,9 @@ defmodule Queuetopia do
       @repo Keyword.fetch!(opts, :repo)
       @performer Keyword.fetch!(opts, :performer) |> to_string()
       @scope __MODULE__ |> to_string()
-      @cleanup_interval Keyword.get(opts, :cleanup_interval, nil)
+      @cleanup_interval Keyword.get(opts, :cleanup_interval)
       @job_retention Keyword.get(opts, :job_retention, {7, :day})
+      @job_cleaner_max_initial_delay Keyword.get(opts, :job_cleaner_max_initial_delay, 1000)
       @default_poll_interval 60 * 1_000
 
       defp config(otp_app, queue) when is_atom(otp_app) and is_atom(queue) do
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ defmodule Queuetopia do
         [otp_app: otp_app] ++ config
       end
 
-      defp to_ms({duration, unit}) do
+      defp to_ms({duration, unit}) when is_integer(duration) and is_atom(unit) do
         timestamp = DateTime.utc_now()
 
         timestamp
@@ -86,9 +87,13 @@ defmodule Queuetopia do
             Keyword.get(config, :poll_interval) ||
             @default_poll_interval
 
-        cleanup_interval = Keyword.get(config, :cleanup_interval) || @cleanup_interval
+        cleanup_interval = Keyword.get(opts, :cleanup_interval) || @cleanup_interval
+
         cleanup_interval_ms = cleanup_interval && to_ms(cleanup_interval)
 
+        job_cleaner_max_initial_delay =
+          Keyword.get(opts, :job_cleaner_max_initial_delay) || @job_cleaner_max_initial_delay
+
         disable? = Keyword.get(config, :disable?, false)
 
         opts = [
@@ -96,7 +101,8 @@ defmodule Queuetopia do
           poll_interval: poll_interval,
           number_of_concurrent_jobs: Keyword.get(config, :number_of_concurrent_jobs),
           cleanup_interval: cleanup_interval_ms,
-          job_retention: Keyword.get(config, :job_retention) || @job_retention
+          job_retention: @job_retention,
+          job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: job_cleaner_max_initial_delay
         ]
 
         if disable?, do: :ignore, else: Supervisor.start_link(__MODULE__, opts, name: __MODULE__)
@@ -146,7 +152,8 @@ defmodule Queuetopia do
            repo: Keyword.fetch!(args, :repo),
            scope: @scope,
            cleanup_interval: Keyword.fetch!(args, :cleanup_interval),
-           job_retention: Keyword.fetch!(args, :job_retention)
+           job_retention: Keyword.fetch!(args, :job_retention),
+           job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: Keyword.fetch!(args, :job_cleaner_max_initial_delay)
          ]}
       end
 
diff --git a/lib/queuetopia/job_cleaner.ex b/lib/queuetopia/job_cleaner.ex
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a606af9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/queuetopia/job_cleaner.ex
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+defmodule Queuetopia.JobCleaner do
+  @moduledoc """
+  Removes completed jobs from the queue periodically.
+
+  This GenServer runs in the background and cleans up
+  old completed jobs based on the configured interval.
+  """
+
+  use GenServer
+  alias Queuetopia.Queue
+
+  def start_link(opts) do
+    GenServer.start_link(__MODULE__, opts, name: opts[:name])
+  end
+
+  @impl true
+  def init(opts) do
+    # Add random dalay to mitigate deadlocks on starts
+    job_cleaner_initial_delay =
+      opts |> Keyword.fetch!(:job_cleaner_max_initial_delay) |> random_delay()
+
+    Process.send_after(self(), :cleanup, job_cleaner_initial_delay)
+
+    state = opts |> Keyword.take([:repo, :scope, :cleanup_interval, :job_retention]) |> Map.new()
+
+    {:ok, state}
+  end
+
+  @impl true
+  def handle_info(:cleanup, state) do
+    %{
+      repo: repo,
+      scope: scope,
+      cleanup_interval: cleanup_interval,
+      job_retention: job_retention
+    } = state
+
+    Queue.cleanup_completed_jobs(repo, scope, job_retention)
+
+    Process.send_after(self(), :cleanup, cleanup_interval)
+    {:noreply, state}
+  end
+
+  defp random_delay(0), do: 0
+  defp random_delay(max) when max > 0, do: :rand.uniform(max)
+end
diff --git a/mix.exs b/mix.exs
index 85c2b1e..0ecb18e 100644
--- a/mix.exs
+++ b/mix.exs
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ defmodule Queuetopia.MixProject do
   use Mix.Project
 
   @source_url "https://github.com/annatel/queuetopia"
-  @version "2.7.0"
+  @version "2.7.1"
 
   def project do
     [
diff --git a/test/job_cleaner_test.exs b/test/queuetopia/job_cleaner_test.exs
similarity index 69%
rename from test/job_cleaner_test.exs
rename to test/queuetopia/job_cleaner_test.exs
index 710817d..33a3998 100644
--- a/test/job_cleaner_test.exs
+++ b/test/queuetopia/job_cleaner_test.exs
@@ -11,18 +11,10 @@ defmodule Queuetopia.JobCleanerTest do
     |> DateTime.truncate(:second)
   end
 
-  setup do
-    Application.put_env(:queuetopia, TestQueuetopia, cleanup_interval: {50, :millisecond})
-
-    on_exit(fn ->
-      Application.put_env(:queuetopia, TestQueuetopia, [])
-    end)
-
-    :ok
-  end
-
   test "removes completed jobs older than 7 days retention period during periodic cleanup" do
-    start_supervised!(TestQueuetopia)
+    start_supervised!(
+      {TestQueuetopia, cleanup_interval: {100, :millisecond}, job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: 0}
+    )
 
     :timer.sleep(100)
 
@@ -60,7 +52,10 @@ defmodule Queuetopia.JobCleanerTest do
         done_at: datetime_days_ago(8)
       )
 
-    start_supervised!(TestQueuetopia)
+    start_supervised!(
+      {TestQueuetopia, cleanup_interval: {100, :millisecond}, job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: 0}
+    )
+
     :timer.sleep(100)
 
     assert is_nil(TestRepo.get(Job, our_eight_days_old_job.id))
@@ -78,9 +73,11 @@ defmodule Queuetopia.JobCleanerTest do
 
     assert TestRepo.get(Job, eight_days_old_completed_job.id)
 
-    start_supervised!(TestQueuetopia)
+    start_supervised!(
+      {TestQueuetopia, cleanup_interval: {100, :millisecond}, job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: 0}
+    )
 
-    :timer.sleep(10)
+    :timer.sleep(50)
 
     assert is_nil(TestRepo.get(Job, eight_days_old_completed_job.id))
   end
@@ -97,4 +94,26 @@ defmodule Queuetopia.JobCleanerTest do
     assert TestRepo.get(Job, old_job.id)
     assert TestRepo.get(Job, recent_job.id)
   end
+
+  test "respects job_cleaner_max_initial_delay before first cleanup" do
+    scope = TestQueuetopia.scope()
+
+    eight_days_old_job =
+      insert!(:job,
+        scope: scope,
+        done_at: datetime_days_ago(8)
+      )
+
+    start_supervised!(
+      {TestQueuetopia, cleanup_interval: {100, :millisecond}, job_cleaner_max_initial_delay: 20}
+    )
+
+    :timer.sleep(10)
+    assert TestRepo.get(Job, eight_days_old_job.id), "Job should still exist before initial delay"
+
+    :timer.sleep(15)
+
+    assert is_nil(TestRepo.get(Job, eight_days_old_job.id)),
+           "Job should be deleted after initial delay"
+  end
 end