diff --git a/.changeset/five-months-dance.md b/.changeset/five-months-dance.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..311b2ec54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/five-months-dance.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@openfn/engine-multi': patch
+'@openfn/ws-worker': patch
+---
+
+Enforce run memory limits at the child_process level
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/src/api/call-worker.ts b/packages/engine-multi/src/api/call-worker.ts
index a89832f41..c3a062407 100644
--- a/packages/engine-multi/src/api/call-worker.ts
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/src/api/call-worker.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ type WorkerOptions = {
   maxWorkers?: number;
   env?: any;
   timeout?: number; // ms
+  memoryLimitMb?: number;
   proxyStdout?: boolean; // print internal stdout to console
 };
 
@@ -22,13 +23,19 @@ export default function initWorkers(
   options: WorkerOptions = {},
   logger: Logger
 ) {
-  const { env = {}, maxWorkers = 5, proxyStdout = false } = options;
+  const {
+    env = {},
+    maxWorkers = 5,
+    memoryLimitMb,
+    proxyStdout = false,
+  } = options;
 
   const workers = createPool(
     workerPath,
     {
       maxWorkers,
       env,
+      memoryLimitMb,
       proxyStdout,
     },
     logger
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/src/engine.ts b/packages/engine-multi/src/engine.ts
index 630e334ab..31ecc0774 100644
--- a/packages/engine-multi/src/engine.ts
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/src/engine.ts
@@ -139,6 +139,7 @@ const createEngine = async (
     resolvedWorkerPath,
     {
       maxWorkers: options.maxWorkers,
+      memoryLimitMb: defaultMemoryLimit,
       proxyStdout: options.proxyStdout,
     },
     options.logger
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/src/test/worker-functions.ts b/packages/engine-multi/src/test/worker-functions.ts
index 7c73af6d1..dca335cea 100644
--- a/packages/engine-multi/src/test/worker-functions.ts
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/src/test/worker-functions.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ const tasks = {
   },
   threadId: async () => threadId,
   processId: async () => process.pid,
+  getExecArgv: async () => process.execArgv,
   // very very simple intepretation of a run function
   // Most tests should use the mock-worker instead
   run: async (plan: ExecutionPlan, _input: any, _adaptorPaths: any) => {
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/pool.ts b/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/pool.ts
index 7a306b974..48a268803 100644
--- a/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/pool.ts
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/pool.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ export type PoolOptions = {
   capacity?: number; // defaults to 5
   maxWorkers?: number; // alias for capacity. Which is best?
   env?: Record<string, string>; // default environment for workers
+  memoryLimitMb?: number; // --max-old-space-size for child processes
 
   proxyStdout?: boolean; // print internal stdout to console
 };
@@ -83,8 +84,13 @@ function createPool(script: string, options: PoolOptions = {}, logger: Logger) {
     let child: ChildProcess;
     if (!maybeChild) {
       // create a new child process and load the module script into it
+      const execArgv = ['--experimental-vm-modules', '--no-warnings'];
+      if (options.memoryLimitMb) {
+        execArgv.push(`--max-old-space-size=${options.memoryLimitMb}`);
+      }
+
       child = fork(envPath, [script], {
-        execArgv: ['--experimental-vm-modules', '--no-warnings'],
+        execArgv,
 
         env: options.env || {},
 
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/test/worker/pool.test.ts b/packages/engine-multi/test/worker/pool.test.ts
index fe162d249..5a3b8d9dc 100644
--- a/packages/engine-multi/test/worker/pool.test.ts
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/test/worker/pool.test.ts
@@ -185,6 +185,30 @@ test('throw if memory limit is exceeded', async (t) => {
   }
 });
 
+test('child process should have --max-old-space-size when memoryLimitMb is set', async (t) => {
+  const pool = createPool(workerPath, { memoryLimitMb: 200 }, logger);
+  const execArgv = await pool.exec('getExecArgv', []);
+  t.true(execArgv.some((a: string) => a === '--max-old-space-size=200'));
+});
+
+test('child process should not have --max-old-space-size when memoryLimitMb is not set', async (t) => {
+  const pool = createPool(workerPath, {}, logger);
+  const execArgv = await pool.exec('getExecArgv', []);
+  t.false(execArgv.some((a: string) => a.includes('--max-old-space-size')));
+});
+
+test('pool recovers after process-level OOM', async (t) => {
+  const pool = createPool(workerPath, { memoryLimitMb: 50 }, logger);
+
+  await t.throwsAsync(() => pool.exec('blowMemory', [], { memoryLimitMb: 20 }), {
+    name: 'OOMError',
+  });
+
+  // Pool should still be functional after the OOM
+  const result = await pool.exec('test', [42]);
+  t.is(result, 42);
+});
+
 test('handle weird exit', async (t) => {
   const pool = createPool(workerPath, {}, logger);