diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b3913a8b65..f76c1e6805 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -125,7 +125,7 @@ Then perform the following commands on the root folder:
 | region | The region to host the cluster in (required) | string | - | yes |
 | regional | Whether is a regional cluster (zonal cluster if set false. WARNING: changing this after cluster creation is destructive!) | string | `true` | no |
 | remove_default_node_pool | Remove default node pool while setting up the cluster | string | `false` | no |
-| service_account | The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account | string | `` | no |
+| service_account | The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account. May also specify `create` to automatically create a cluster-specific service account | string | `` | no |
 | stub_domains | Map of stub domains and their resolvers to forward DNS queries for a certain domain to an external DNS server | map | `<map>` | no |
 | subnetwork | The subnetwork to host the cluster in (required) | string | - | yes |
 | zones | The zones to host the cluster in (optional if regional cluster / required if zonal) | list | `<list>` | no |
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ following project roles:
 - roles/compute.viewer
 - roles/container.clusterAdmin
 - roles/container.developer
+- roles/iam.serviceAccountAdmin
 - roles/iam.serviceAccountUser
 
 ### Enable APIs
diff --git a/autogen/README.md b/autogen/README.md
index 5f5c9123ed..50cda2d5a1 100644
--- a/autogen/README.md
+++ b/autogen/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Terraform Kubernetes Engine Module
 
-This module handles opinionated Google Cloud Platform Kubernetes Engine cluster creation and configuration with Node Pools, IP MASQ, Network Policy, etc. {% if private_cluster %}This particular submodule creates a [private cluster](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/private-clusters){% endif %}
+This module handles opinionated Google Cloud Platform Kubernetes Engine cluster creation and configuration with Node Pools, IP MASQ, Network Policy, etc.{% if private_cluster %} This particular submodule creates a [private cluster](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/private-clusters){% endif %}
 
 The resources/services/activations/deletions that this module will create/trigger are:
 - Create a GKE cluster with the provided addons
@@ -189,6 +189,7 @@ following project roles:
 - roles/compute.viewer
 - roles/container.clusterAdmin
 - roles/container.developer
+- roles/iam.serviceAccountAdmin
 - roles/iam.serviceAccountUser
 
 ### Enable APIs
diff --git a/autogen/cluster_regional.tf b/autogen/cluster_regional.tf
index 240f23e797..a9462ed12d 100644
--- a/autogen/cluster_regional.tf
+++ b/autogen/cluster_regional.tf
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ resource "google_container_cluster" "primary" {
     name = "default-pool"
 
     node_config {
-      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     }
   }
 {% if private_cluster %}
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ resource "google_container_node_pool" "pools" {
 
     disk_size_gb    = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_size_gb", 100)}"
     disk_type       = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_type", "pd-standard")}"
-    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     preemptible     = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "preemptible", false)}"
 
     oauth_scopes = [
diff --git a/autogen/cluster_zonal.tf b/autogen/cluster_zonal.tf
index f56fde248c..20a72ec582 100644
--- a/autogen/cluster_zonal.tf
+++ b/autogen/cluster_zonal.tf
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ resource "google_container_cluster" "zonal_primary" {
     name = "default-pool"
 
     node_config {
-      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     }
   }
 {% if private_cluster %}
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ resource "google_container_node_pool" "zonal_pools" {
 
     disk_size_gb    = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_size_gb", 100)}"
     disk_type       = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_type", "pd-standard")}"
-    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     preemptible     = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "preemptible", false)}"
 
     oauth_scopes = [
diff --git a/autogen/sa.tf b/autogen/sa.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..89c55f2e66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/autogen/sa.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+{{ autogeneration_note }}
+
+locals {
+  service_account_list = "${compact(concat(google_service_account.cluster_service_account.*.email, list("dummy")))}"
+  service_account      = "${var.service_account == "create" ? element(local.service_account_list, 0) : var.service_account}"
+}
+
+resource "google_service_account" "cluster_service_account" {
+  count        = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project      = "${var.project_id}"
+  account_id   = "tf-gke-${substr(var.name, 0, 20)}"
+  display_name = "Terraform-managed service account for cluster ${var.name}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-log_writer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.project}"
+  role    = "roles/logging.logWriter"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-metric_writer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_project_iam_member.cluster_service_account-log_writer.project}"
+  role    = "roles/monitoring.metricWriter"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-monitoring_viewer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_project_iam_member.cluster_service_account-metric_writer.project}"
+  role    = "roles/monitoring.viewer"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
diff --git a/autogen/variables.tf b/autogen/variables.tf
index ab4cd5470a..f1ccae2754 100644
--- a/autogen/variables.tf
+++ b/autogen/variables.tf
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ variable "monitoring_service" {
 }
 
 variable "service_account" {
-  description = "The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account"
+  description = "The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account. May also specify `create` to automatically create a cluster-specific service account"
   default     = ""
 }
 {% if private_cluster %}
diff --git a/cluster_regional.tf b/cluster_regional.tf
index 774b0ee102..34030ef0c5 100644
--- a/cluster_regional.tf
+++ b/cluster_regional.tf
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ resource "google_container_cluster" "primary" {
     name = "default-pool"
 
     node_config {
-      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     }
   }
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ resource "google_container_node_pool" "pools" {
 
     disk_size_gb    = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_size_gb", 100)}"
     disk_type       = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_type", "pd-standard")}"
-    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     preemptible     = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "preemptible", false)}"
 
     oauth_scopes = [
diff --git a/cluster_zonal.tf b/cluster_zonal.tf
index c56fa348d5..7b1c9a699d 100644
--- a/cluster_zonal.tf
+++ b/cluster_zonal.tf
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ resource "google_container_cluster" "zonal_primary" {
     name = "default-pool"
 
     node_config {
-      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     }
   }
 
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ resource "google_container_node_pool" "zonal_pools" {
 
     disk_size_gb    = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_size_gb", 100)}"
     disk_type       = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_type", "pd-standard")}"
-    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     preemptible     = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "preemptible", false)}"
 
     oauth_scopes = [
diff --git a/examples/simple_zonal/README.md b/examples/simple_zonal/README.md
index edd120aa05..9a1585534b 100644
--- a/examples/simple_zonal/README.md
+++ b/examples/simple_zonal/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ This example illustrates how to create a simple cluster.
 | Name | Description | Type | Default | Required |
 |------|-------------|:----:|:-----:|:-----:|
 | cluster_name_suffix | A suffix to append to the default cluster name | string | `` | no |
-| compute_engine_service_account | Service account to associate to the nodes in the cluster | string | - | yes |
 | credentials_path | The path to the GCP credentials JSON file | string | - | yes |
 | ip_range_pods | The secondary ip range to use for pods | string | - | yes |
 | ip_range_services | The secondary ip range to use for pods | string | - | yes |
diff --git a/examples/simple_zonal/main.tf b/examples/simple_zonal/main.tf
index a837cba357..1923d398b1 100644
--- a/examples/simple_zonal/main.tf
+++ b/examples/simple_zonal/main.tf
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ module "gke" {
   subnetwork        = "${var.subnetwork}"
   ip_range_pods     = "${var.ip_range_pods}"
   ip_range_services = "${var.ip_range_services}"
-  service_account   = "${var.compute_engine_service_account}"
+  service_account   = "create"
 }
 
 data "google_client_config" "default" {}
diff --git a/examples/simple_zonal/variables.tf b/examples/simple_zonal/variables.tf
index ebb151e38a..10130ab2d1 100644
--- a/examples/simple_zonal/variables.tf
+++ b/examples/simple_zonal/variables.tf
@@ -51,7 +51,3 @@ variable "ip_range_pods" {
 variable "ip_range_services" {
   description = "The secondary ip range to use for pods"
 }
-
-variable "compute_engine_service_account" {
-  description = "Service account to associate to the nodes in the cluster"
-}
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster/README.md b/modules/private-cluster/README.md
index 0fbcb1ffac..f0611c7631 100644
--- a/modules/private-cluster/README.md
+++ b/modules/private-cluster/README.md
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ Then perform the following commands on the root folder:
 | region | The region to host the cluster in (required) | string | - | yes |
 | regional | Whether is a regional cluster (zonal cluster if set false. WARNING: changing this after cluster creation is destructive!) | string | `true` | no |
 | remove_default_node_pool | Remove default node pool while setting up the cluster | string | `false` | no |
-| service_account | The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account | string | `` | no |
+| service_account | The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account. May also specify `create` to automatically create a cluster-specific service account | string | `` | no |
 | stub_domains | Map of stub domains and their resolvers to forward DNS queries for a certain domain to an external DNS server | map | `<map>` | no |
 | subnetwork | The subnetwork to host the cluster in (required) | string | - | yes |
 | zones | The zones to host the cluster in (optional if regional cluster / required if zonal) | list | `<list>` | no |
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@ following project roles:
 - roles/compute.viewer
 - roles/container.clusterAdmin
 - roles/container.developer
+- roles/iam.serviceAccountAdmin
 - roles/iam.serviceAccountUser
 
 ### Enable APIs
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster/cluster_regional.tf b/modules/private-cluster/cluster_regional.tf
index 947682a292..b6a77059f0 100644
--- a/modules/private-cluster/cluster_regional.tf
+++ b/modules/private-cluster/cluster_regional.tf
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ resource "google_container_cluster" "primary" {
     name = "default-pool"
 
     node_config {
-      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     }
   }
 
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ resource "google_container_node_pool" "pools" {
 
     disk_size_gb    = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_size_gb", 100)}"
     disk_type       = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_type", "pd-standard")}"
-    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     preemptible     = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "preemptible", false)}"
 
     oauth_scopes = [
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster/cluster_zonal.tf b/modules/private-cluster/cluster_zonal.tf
index 41dd02f926..51269e6a61 100644
--- a/modules/private-cluster/cluster_zonal.tf
+++ b/modules/private-cluster/cluster_zonal.tf
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ resource "google_container_cluster" "zonal_primary" {
     name = "default-pool"
 
     node_config {
-      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+      service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[0], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     }
   }
 
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ resource "google_container_node_pool" "zonal_pools" {
 
     disk_size_gb    = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_size_gb", 100)}"
     disk_type       = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "disk_type", "pd-standard")}"
-    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", var.service_account)}"
+    service_account = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "service_account", local.service_account)}"
     preemptible     = "${lookup(var.node_pools[count.index], "preemptible", false)}"
 
     oauth_scopes = [
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster/sa.tf b/modules/private-cluster/sa.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7ac956eef8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/private-cluster/sa.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+// This file was automatically generated from a template in ./autogen
+
+locals {
+  service_account_list = "${compact(concat(google_service_account.cluster_service_account.*.email, list("dummy")))}"
+  service_account      = "${var.service_account == "create" ? element(local.service_account_list, 0) : var.service_account}"
+}
+
+resource "google_service_account" "cluster_service_account" {
+  count        = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project      = "${var.project_id}"
+  account_id   = "tf-gke-${substr(var.name, 0, 20)}"
+  display_name = "Terraform-managed service account for cluster ${var.name}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-log_writer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.project}"
+  role    = "roles/logging.logWriter"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-metric_writer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_project_iam_member.cluster_service_account-log_writer.project}"
+  role    = "roles/monitoring.metricWriter"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-monitoring_viewer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_project_iam_member.cluster_service_account-metric_writer.project}"
+  role    = "roles/monitoring.viewer"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
diff --git a/modules/private-cluster/variables.tf b/modules/private-cluster/variables.tf
index eabed2c2a6..448832cd57 100644
--- a/modules/private-cluster/variables.tf
+++ b/modules/private-cluster/variables.tf
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ variable "monitoring_service" {
 }
 
 variable "service_account" {
-  description = "The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account"
+  description = "The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account. May also specify `create` to automatically create a cluster-specific service account"
   default     = ""
 }
 
diff --git a/sa.tf b/sa.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7ac956eef8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sa.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2018 Google LLC
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+// This file was automatically generated from a template in ./autogen
+
+locals {
+  service_account_list = "${compact(concat(google_service_account.cluster_service_account.*.email, list("dummy")))}"
+  service_account      = "${var.service_account == "create" ? element(local.service_account_list, 0) : var.service_account}"
+}
+
+resource "google_service_account" "cluster_service_account" {
+  count        = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project      = "${var.project_id}"
+  account_id   = "tf-gke-${substr(var.name, 0, 20)}"
+  display_name = "Terraform-managed service account for cluster ${var.name}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-log_writer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.project}"
+  role    = "roles/logging.logWriter"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-metric_writer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_project_iam_member.cluster_service_account-log_writer.project}"
+  role    = "roles/monitoring.metricWriter"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
+
+resource "google_project_iam_member" "cluster_service_account-monitoring_viewer" {
+  count   = "${var.service_account == "create" ? 1 : 0}"
+  project = "${google_project_iam_member.cluster_service_account-metric_writer.project}"
+  role    = "roles/monitoring.viewer"
+  member  = "serviceAccount:${google_service_account.cluster_service_account.email}"
+}
diff --git a/test/fixtures/simple_zonal/example.tf b/test/fixtures/simple_zonal/example.tf
index f928502053..2874e4b91e 100644
--- a/test/fixtures/simple_zonal/example.tf
+++ b/test/fixtures/simple_zonal/example.tf
@@ -17,14 +17,13 @@
 module "example" {
   source = "../../../examples/simple_zonal"
 
-  project_id                     = "${var.project_id}"
-  credentials_path               = "${local.credentials_path}"
-  cluster_name_suffix            = "-${random_string.suffix.result}"
-  region                         = "${var.region}"
-  zones                          = ["${slice(var.zones,0,1)}"]
-  network                        = "${google_compute_network.main.name}"
-  subnetwork                     = "${google_compute_subnetwork.main.name}"
-  ip_range_pods                  = "${google_compute_subnetwork.main.secondary_ip_range.0.range_name}"
-  ip_range_services              = "${google_compute_subnetwork.main.secondary_ip_range.1.range_name}"
-  compute_engine_service_account = "${var.compute_engine_service_account}"
+  project_id          = "${var.project_id}"
+  credentials_path    = "${local.credentials_path}"
+  cluster_name_suffix = "-${random_string.suffix.result}"
+  region              = "${var.region}"
+  zones               = ["${slice(var.zones,0,1)}"]
+  network             = "${google_compute_network.main.name}"
+  subnetwork          = "${google_compute_subnetwork.main.name}"
+  ip_range_pods       = "${google_compute_subnetwork.main.secondary_ip_range.0.range_name}"
+  ip_range_services   = "${google_compute_subnetwork.main.secondary_ip_range.1.range_name}"
 }
diff --git a/test/integration/simple_zonal/controls/gcloud.rb b/test/integration/simple_zonal/controls/gcloud.rb
index cfd45420e8..ce11017228 100644
--- a/test/integration/simple_zonal/controls/gcloud.rb
+++ b/test/integration/simple_zonal/controls/gcloud.rb
@@ -79,6 +79,16 @@
     describe "node pool" do
       let(:node_pools) { data['nodePools'].reject { |p| p['name'] == "default-pool" } }
 
+      it "uses an automatically created service account" do
+        expect(node_pools).to include(
+          including(
+            "config" => including(
+              "serviceAccount" => starting_with("tf-gke-simple-zonal-cluster@"),
+            ),
+          ),
+        )
+      end
+
       it "has autoscaling enabled" do
         expect(node_pools).to include(
           including(
diff --git a/variables.tf b/variables.tf
index b185c9b7d5..e4f7cac1c3 100644
--- a/variables.tf
+++ b/variables.tf
@@ -208,6 +208,6 @@ variable "monitoring_service" {
 }
 
 variable "service_account" {
-  description = "The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account"
+  description = "The service account to default running nodes as if not overridden in `node_pools`. Defaults to the compute engine default service account. May also specify `create` to automatically create a cluster-specific service account"
   default     = ""
 }