diff --git a/plugins/aiops/pkg/gateway/modeltraining.go b/plugins/aiops/pkg/gateway/modeltraining.go
index d47ed023f4..dc10b8a29b 100644
--- a/plugins/aiops/pkg/gateway/modeltraining.go
+++ b/plugins/aiops/pkg/gateway/modeltraining.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/google/uuid"
+	backoffv2 "github.com/lestrrat-go/backoff/v2"
 	"github.com/nats-io/nats.go"
 	corev1 "github.com/rancher/opni/pkg/apis/core/v1"
 	"github.com/rancher/opni/plugins/aiops/apis/admin"
@@ -67,27 +68,33 @@ func (p *AIOpsPlugin) requestModelTraining(
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "Failed to get model training parameters: %v", err)
 	}
-	msg, err := natsConnection.Request(modelTrainingNatsSubject, parametersPayload, time.Minute)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Unavailable, "Failed to train model: %v", err)
+	retrier := backoffv2.Exponential(
+		backoffv2.WithMaxRetries(10),
+		backoffv2.WithMinInterval(2*time.Second),
+		backoffv2.WithMaxInterval(5*time.Second),
+		backoffv2.WithMultiplier(1.2),
+	)
+	signalStartTraining := retrier.Start(ctx)
+	var msgErr error
+	for backoffv2.Continue(signalStartTraining) {
+		msg, err := natsConnection.Request(modelTrainingNatsSubject, parametersPayload, time.Minute)
+		if err == nil {
+			return &modeltraining.ModelTrainingResponse{
+				Response: string(msg.Data),
+			}, nil
+		}
+		msgErr = err
 	}
-	return &modeltraining.ModelTrainingResponse{
-		Response: string(msg.Data),
-	}, nil
+	return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to post to training message to NATS : %s", msgErr)
 }
 
-func (p *AIOpsPlugin) TrainModel(ctx context.Context, in *modeltraining.ModelTrainingParametersList) (*modeltraining.ModelTrainingResponse, error) {
-	_, err := p.LaunchAIServices(ctx)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, status.Error(codes.FailedPrecondition, fmt.Sprintf("failed to launch AI services : %s", err))
-	}
+func (p *AIOpsPlugin) persistInitialJobInfo(ctx context.Context, in *modeltraining.ModelTrainingParametersList) ([]byte, error) {
 	ctxca, ca := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second)
 	defer ca()
 	modelTrainingKv, err := p.modelTrainingKv.GetContext(ctxca)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, status.Errorf(codes.FailedPrecondition, "Failed to get model training KV: %v", err)
 	}
-
 	modelTrainingParameters, parametersBytes, err := modelTrainingParams(in)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "Failed to marshall training parameters: %v", err)
@@ -96,6 +103,7 @@ func (p *AIOpsPlugin) TrainModel(ctx context.Context, in *modeltraining.ModelTra
 	if _, err := modelTrainingKv.Put(modelTrainingParametersKey, parametersBytes); err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+
 	initialStatus := modeltraining.ModelStatus{Status: "training", Statistics: &modeltraining.ModelTrainingStatistics{Stage: "fetching data"}}
 	if len(modelTrainingParameters) == 0 {
 		initialStatus = modeltraining.ModelStatus{Status: "no model trained"}
@@ -104,15 +112,29 @@ func (p *AIOpsPlugin) TrainModel(ctx context.Context, in *modeltraining.ModelTra
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "Failed to put model training status: %v", err)
 	}
+	return parametersBytes, nil
+}
 
+func (p *AIOpsPlugin) TrainModel(ctx context.Context, in *modeltraining.ModelTrainingParametersList) (*modeltraining.ModelTrainingResponse, error) {
+	parametersBytes, err := p.persistInitialJobInfo(ctx, in)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	_, err = p.LaunchAIServices(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		delErr := errors.Join(p.deleteTrainingJobInfo(ctx), err)
+		p.Logger.Error(fmt.Sprintf("failed to launch AI services : %s", delErr))
+		return nil, status.Error(codes.FailedPrecondition, fmt.Sprintf("failed to launch AI services : %s", delErr))
+	}
 	resp, err := p.requestModelTraining(ctx, parametersBytes)
 	if err != nil { // this fails if the request never made it to the training container
 		// therefore we make a best effort to purge the stateful information associated
 		// with the modeltraining request
 		ctxca, ca := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 10*time.Second)
 		defer ca()
-		delErr := p.deleteTrainingJobInfo(ctxca)
-		return nil, errors.Join(err, delErr)
+		delErr := errors.Join(p.deleteTrainingJobInfo(ctxca), err)
+		p.Logger.Error(fmt.Sprintf("failed to request model training : %s", delErr))
+		return nil, delErr
 	}
 
 	return resp, nil