diff --git a/backend/builder/image_builder/image_builder.py b/backend/builder/image_builder/image_builder.py
index ce625f76b..c234ec686 100644
--- a/backend/builder/image_builder/image_builder.py
+++ b/backend/builder/image_builder/image_builder.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 from typing import Union
 
 import kubernetes
+import requests.exceptions
 import structlog
 from django.conf import settings
 
@@ -67,7 +68,12 @@ def build_image_if_missing(channel: str, function: orchestrator.Function) -> Non
     datastore = ds.Datastore(channel=channel)
     container_image_tag = utils.container_image_tag_from_function(function)
     with lock_resource("image-build", container_image_tag, ttl=IMAGE_BUILD_TIMEOUT, timeout=IMAGE_BUILD_TIMEOUT):
-        if docker.container_image_exists(container_image_tag):
+        try:
+            image_exists = docker.container_image_exists(container_image_tag)
+        except requests.exceptions.ReadTimeout as e:
+            raise BuildRetryError(f"Timeout while checking if image exists: {e}") from e
+
+        if image_exists:
             logger.info("Reusing existing image", image=container_image_tag)
         else:
             asset_content = datastore.get_function(function)
@@ -136,7 +142,7 @@ def _delete_kaniko_pod(create_pod: bool, k8s_client: kubernetes.client.CoreV1Api
 
 
 @timeit
-def _build_container_image(path: str, tag: str) -> None:
+def _build_container_image(path: str, tag: str) -> None:  # noqa: C901
     _assert_dockerfile_exist(path)
 
     kubernetes.config.load_incluster_config()
@@ -160,7 +166,11 @@ def _build_container_image(path: str, tag: str) -> None:
 
     except Exception as e:
         # In case of concurrent builds, it may fail. Check if the image exists.
-        if docker.container_image_exists(tag):
+        try:
+            image_exists = docker.container_image_exists(tag)
+        except Exception:
+            image_exists = False
+        if image_exists:
             logger.warning(
                 f"Build of container image {tag} failed, probably because it was done by a concurrent build",
                 exc_info=True,
diff --git a/backend/builder/tasks/tasks_build_image.py b/backend/builder/tasks/tasks_build_image.py
index 8bbe2c73d..a4087e9e5 100644
--- a/backend/builder/tasks/tasks_build_image.py
+++ b/backend/builder/tasks/tasks_build_image.py
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
 import structlog
-from django.conf import settings
 
 import orchestrator
 from backend.celery import app
@@ -10,7 +9,6 @@
 from builder.tasks.task import BuildTask
 
 logger = structlog.get_logger(__name__)
-max_retries = settings.CELERY_TASK_MAX_RETRIES
 
 
 @app.task(
diff --git a/backend/builder/tests/test_task_build_image.py b/backend/builder/tests/test_task_build_image.py
index c5b86b643..cc630bc5a 100644
--- a/backend/builder/tests/test_task_build_image.py
+++ b/backend/builder/tests/test_task_build_image.py
@@ -2,12 +2,13 @@
 
 import celery
 import pytest
+from requests.exceptions import ReadTimeout
 
 import orchestrator.mock as orc_mock
 from builder.exceptions import BuildError
 from builder.exceptions import BuildRetryError
+from builder.exceptions import CeleryNoRetryError
 from builder.tasks.tasks_build_image import build_image
-from substrapp.compute_tasks.errors import CeleryNoRetryError
 from substrapp.models import FailedAssetKind
 from substrapp.utils.errors import store_failure
 
@@ -93,3 +94,21 @@ def side_effect(*args, **kwargs):
     result_retry.get()
     assert result_retry.state == celery.states.SUCCESS
     assert result_other.state == "WAITING"
+
+
+def test_ssl_connection_timeout(celery_app, celery_worker, mocker):
+    """
+    Test that in case of a SSL connection timeout, the task is retried max_retries times,
+    then raise a CeleryNoRetryError
+    """
+    function = orc_mock.FunctionFactory()
+    mocker.patch("builder.tasks.task.get_orchestrator_client")
+    api_mock = mocker.patch(
+        "substrapp.docker_registry.get_request_docker_api", side_effect=ReadTimeout("Read timed out. ")
+    )
+
+    with pytest.raises(CeleryNoRetryError):
+        build_image.apply_async(
+            kwargs={"function_serialized": function.model_dump_json(), "channel_name": CHANNEL}
+        ).get()
+    assert api_mock.call_count == build_image.max_retries
diff --git a/backend/substrapp/docker_registry.py b/backend/substrapp/docker_registry.py
index a90e0d1be..cfa1a29e6 100644
--- a/backend/substrapp/docker_registry.py
+++ b/backend/substrapp/docker_registry.py
@@ -75,8 +75,6 @@ def get_request_docker_api(
     if response.status_code != requests.status_codes.codes.ok:
         raise ImageNotFoundError(f"Error when querying docker-registry, status code: {response.status_code}")
 
-    response.raise_for_status()
-
     return response.json()
 
 
diff --git a/changes/917.changed b/changes/917.changed
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f50421900
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/917.changed
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+SSL connection errors to the registry are now retried.