diff --git a/data-processing-lib/spark/src/data_processing_spark/runtime/spark/transform_orchestrator.py b/data-processing-lib/spark/src/data_processing_spark/runtime/spark/transform_orchestrator.py
index 20d12f78e..c279f2b73 100644
--- a/data-processing-lib/spark/src/data_processing_spark/runtime/spark/transform_orchestrator.py
+++ b/data-processing-lib/spark/src/data_processing_spark/runtime/spark/transform_orchestrator.py
@@ -10,10 +10,13 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 ################################################################################
 
+import os
+import socket
 import time
 import traceback
 from datetime import datetime
 
+import yaml
 from data_processing.data_access import DataAccessFactoryBase
 from data_processing.transform import TransformStatistics
 from data_processing.utils import GB, get_logger
@@ -23,11 +26,53 @@
     SparkTransformRuntimeConfiguration,
 )
 from pyspark import SparkConf, SparkContext
+from pyspark.sql import SparkSession
 
 
 logger = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
+def _init_spark(runtime_config: SparkTransformRuntimeConfiguration) -> SparkSession:
+    server_port_https = int(os.getenv("KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT_HTTPS", "-1"))
+    if server_port_https == -1:
+        # running locally
+        spark_config = {"spark.driver.host": "127.0.0.1"}
+        return SparkSession.builder.appName(runtime_config.get_name()).config(map=spark_config).getOrCreate()
+    else:
+        # running in Kubernetes, use spark_profile.yml and
+        # environment variables for configuration
+        server_port = os.environ["KUBERNETES_SERVICE_PORT"]
+        master_url = f"k8s://https://kubernetes.default:{server_port}"
+
+        # Read Spark configuration profile
+        config_filepath = os.path.abspath(
+            os.path.join(os.getenv("SPARK_HOME"), "work-dir", "config", "spark_profile.yml")
+        )
+        with open(config_filepath, "r") as config_fp:
+            spark_config = yaml.safe_load(os.path.expandvars(config_fp.read()))
+        spark_config["spark.submit.deployMode"] = "client"
+
+        # configure the executor pods from template
+        executor_pod_template_file = os.path.join(
+            os.getenv("SPARK_HOME"),
+            "work-dir",
+            "src",
+            "templates",
+            "spark-executor-pod-template.yml",
+        )
+        spark_config["spark.kubernetes.executor.podTemplateFile"] = executor_pod_template_file
+        spark_config["spark.kubernetes.container.image.pullPolicy"] = "Always"
+
+        # Pass the driver IP address to the workers for callback
+        myservice_url = socket.gethostbyname(socket.gethostname())
+        spark_config["spark.driver.host"] = myservice_url
+        spark_config["spark.driver.bindAddress"] = "0.0.0.0"
+        spark_config["spark.decommission.enabled"] = True
+        logger.info(f"Launching Spark Session with configuration\n" f"{yaml.dump(spark_config, indent=2)}")
+        app_name = spark_config.get("spark.app.name", "my-spark-app")
+        return SparkSession.builder.master(master_url).appName(app_name).config(map=spark_config).getOrCreate()
+
+
 def orchestrate(
     runtime_config: SparkTransformRuntimeConfiguration,
     execution_configuration: SparkTransformExecutionConfiguration,
@@ -50,8 +95,9 @@ def orchestrate(
         logger.error("No DataAccess instance provided - exiting")
         return 1
     # initialize Spark
-    conf = SparkConf().setAppName(runtime_config.get_name()).set("spark.driver.host", "127.0.0.1")
-    sc = SparkContext(conf=conf)
+    spark_session = _init_spark(runtime_config)
+    sc = spark_session.sparkContext
+    # broadcast
     spark_runtime_config = sc.broadcast(runtime_config)
     daf = sc.broadcast(data_access_factory)
     spark_bcast_params = sc.broadcast(bcast_params)