diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/application/management/index.ts b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/application/management/index.ts
index 5b281424ebf22..e633aef59297e 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/application/management/index.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/application/management/index.ts
@@ -19,20 +19,18 @@ import type { MlStartDependencies } from '../../plugin';
 import type { ManagementAppMountParams } from '../../../../../../src/plugins/management/public';
 
 export function registerManagementSection(
-  management: ManagementSetup | undefined,
+  management: ManagementSetup,
   core: CoreSetup<MlStartDependencies>
 ) {
-  if (management !== undefined) {
-    return management.sections.section.insightsAndAlerting.registerApp({
-      id: 'jobsListLink',
-      title: i18n.translate('xpack.ml.management.jobsListTitle', {
-        defaultMessage: 'Machine Learning Jobs',
-      }),
-      order: 2,
-      async mount(params: ManagementAppMountParams) {
-        const { mountApp } = await import('./jobs_list');
-        return mountApp(core, params);
-      },
-    });
-  }
+  return management.sections.section.insightsAndAlerting.registerApp({
+    id: 'jobsListLink',
+    title: i18n.translate('xpack.ml.management.jobsListTitle', {
+      defaultMessage: 'Machine Learning Jobs',
+    }),
+    order: 2,
+    async mount(params: ManagementAppMountParams) {
+      const { mountApp } = await import('./jobs_list');
+      return mountApp(core, params);
+    },
+  });
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/plugin.ts b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/plugin.ts
index 16b9b1a4e02f3..034ed090e2212 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/plugin.ts
+++ b/x-pack/plugins/ml/public/plugin.ts
@@ -113,8 +113,6 @@ export class MlPlugin implements Plugin<MlPluginSetup, MlPluginStart> {
         MlCardState,
       } = await import('./register_helper');
 
-      const managementApp = registerManagementSection(pluginsSetup.management, core);
-
       if (isMlEnabled(license)) {
         // add ML to home page
         if (pluginsSetup.home) {
@@ -137,22 +135,17 @@ export class MlPlugin implements Plugin<MlPluginSetup, MlPluginStart> {
 
         // register various ML plugin features which require a full license
         if (isFullLicense(license)) {
-          if (canManageMLJobs && managementApp) {
-            managementApp.enable();
+          if (canManageMLJobs && pluginsSetup.management !== undefined) {
+            registerManagementSection(pluginsSetup.management, core).enable();
           }
           registerEmbeddables(pluginsSetup.embeddable, core);
           registerMlUiActions(pluginsSetup.uiActions, core);
-        } else if (managementApp) {
-          managementApp.disable();
         }
       } else {
         // if ml is disabled in elasticsearch, disable ML in kibana
         this.appUpdater.next(() => ({
           status: AppStatus.inaccessible,
         }));
-        if (managementApp) {
-          managementApp.disable();
-        }
       }
     });