diff --git a/databuilder/extractor/sql_alchemy_extractor.py b/databuilder/extractor/sql_alchemy_extractor.py
index 2c90a8fd3..a375781a5 100644
--- a/databuilder/extractor/sql_alchemy_extractor.py
+++ b/databuilder/extractor/sql_alchemy_extractor.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ class SQLAlchemyExtractor(Extractor):
     # Config keys
     CONN_STRING = 'conn_string'
     EXTRACT_SQL = 'extract_sql'
+    CONNECT_ARGS = 'connect_args'
     """
     An Extractor that extracts records via SQLAlchemy. Database that supports SQLAlchemy can use this extractor
     """
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ def init(self, conf: ConfigTree) -> None:
         """
         self.conf = conf
         self.conn_string = conf.get_string(SQLAlchemyExtractor.CONN_STRING)
+
         self.connection = self._get_connection()
 
         self.extract_sql = conf.get_string(SQLAlchemyExtractor.EXTRACT_SQL)
@@ -40,7 +42,13 @@ def _get_connection(self) -> Any:
         """
         Create a SQLAlchemy connection to Database
         """
-        engine = create_engine(self.conn_string)
+        connect_args = {
+            k: v
+            for k, v in self.conf.get_config(
+                self.CONNECT_ARGS, default=ConfigTree()
+            ).items()
+        }
+        engine = create_engine(self.conn_string, connect_args=connect_args)
         conn = engine.connect()
         return conn
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/extractor/test_sql_alchemy_extractor.py b/tests/unit/extractor/test_sql_alchemy_extractor.py
index b9bd967a6..f6644c086 100644
--- a/tests/unit/extractor/test_sql_alchemy_extractor.py
+++ b/tests/unit/extractor/test_sql_alchemy_extractor.py
@@ -94,6 +94,35 @@ def test_extraction_with_model_class(self: Any, mock_method: Any) -> None:
         self.assertIsInstance(result, TableMetadataResult)
         self.assertEqual(result.name, 'test_table')
 
+    @patch('databuilder.extractor.sql_alchemy_extractor.create_engine')
+    def test_get_connection(self: Any, mock_method: Any) -> None:
+        """
+        Test that configs are passed through correctly to the _get_connection method
+        """
+        extractor = SQLAlchemyExtractor()
+        config_dict = {
+            'extractor.sqlalchemy.conn_string': 'TEST_CONNECTION',
+            'extractor.sqlalchemy.extract_sql': 'SELECT 1 FROM TEST_TABLE;'
+        }
+        conf = ConfigFactory.from_dict(config_dict)
+        extractor.init(Scoped.get_scoped_conf(conf=conf,
+                                              scope=extractor.get_scope()))
+        extractor._get_connection()
+        mock_method.assert_called_with('TEST_CONNECTION', connect_args={})
+
+        extractor = SQLAlchemyExtractor()
+        config_dict = {
+            'extractor.sqlalchemy.conn_string': 'TEST_CONNECTION',
+            'extractor.sqlalchemy.extract_sql': 'SELECT 1 FROM TEST_TABLE;',
+            'extractor.sqlalchemy.connect_args': {"protocol": "https"},
+        }
+        conf = ConfigFactory.from_dict(config_dict)
+        extractor.init(Scoped.get_scoped_conf(conf=conf,
+                                              scope=extractor.get_scope()))
+        extractor._get_connection()
+        mock_method.assert_called_with('TEST_CONNECTION', connect_args={"protocol": "https"})
+
+
 
 class TableMetadataResult:
     """