diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 72805704c..028e2b1f1 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ WORKDIR /app
 
 # TODO: remove simple build once prod optimized build is working ---------------
 FROM base AS ws-worker
-RUN apk add --no-cache git
+RUN apk add --no-cache git util-linux
 RUN --mount=type=cache,id=pnpm,target=/pnpm/store pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
 RUN pnpm build
 WORKDIR /app/packages/ws-worker
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/src/api/call-worker.ts b/packages/engine-multi/src/api/call-worker.ts
index a89832f41..4965da09f 100644
--- a/packages/engine-multi/src/api/call-worker.ts
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/src/api/call-worker.ts
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ export type WorkerEvent = {
 
 type WorkerOptions = {
   maxWorkers?: number;
+  maxWorkerMemoryMb?: number; // kernel-level memory limit per child process (cgroup v2)
   env?: any;
   timeout?: number; // ms
   proxyStdout?: boolean; // print internal stdout to console
@@ -22,12 +23,18 @@ export default function initWorkers(
   options: WorkerOptions = {},
   logger: Logger
 ) {
-  const { env = {}, maxWorkers = 5, proxyStdout = false } = options;
+  const {
+    env = {},
+    maxWorkers = 5,
+    maxWorkerMemoryMb,
+    proxyStdout = false,
+  } = options;
 
   const workers = createPool(
     workerPath,
     {
       maxWorkers,
+      maxWorkerMemoryMb,
       env,
       proxyStdout,
     },
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/src/engine.ts b/packages/engine-multi/src/engine.ts
index 630e334ab..f4584949b 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,
+      maxWorkerMemoryMb: defaultMemoryLimit,
       proxyStdout: options.proxyStdout,
     },
     options.logger
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/pool.ts b/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/pool.ts
index 7a306b974..a8bf26812 100644
--- a/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/pool.ts
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/pool.ts
@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@ import {
 import { HANDLED_EXIT_CODE } from '../events';
 import { Logger } from '@openfn/logger';
 import type { PayloadLimits } from './thread/runtime';
+import { detectPrlimitSupport, applyMemoryLimit } from './rlimit';
 
 export type PoolOptions = {
   capacity?: number; // defaults to 5
   maxWorkers?: number; // alias for capacity. Which is best?
+  maxWorkerMemoryMb?: number; // process-level memory limit via RLIMIT_AS
   env?: Record<string, string>; // default environment for workers
 
   proxyStdout?: boolean; // print internal stdout to console
@@ -71,6 +73,14 @@ function createPool(script: string, options: PoolOptions = {}, logger: Logger) {
   logger.debug(`pool: Creating new child process pool | capacity: ${capacity}`);
   let destroyed = false;
 
+  const hasPrlimit = detectPrlimitSupport(logger);
+
+  if (hasPrlimit && options.maxWorkerMemoryMb) {
+    logger.info(
+      `pool: prlimit memory enforcement enabled | limit: ${options.maxWorkerMemoryMb}MB per child`
+    );
+  }
+
   // a pool of processes
   const pool: ChildProcessPool = new Array(capacity).fill(false);
 
@@ -101,6 +111,17 @@ function createPool(script: string, options: PoolOptions = {}, logger: Logger) {
 
       logger.debug('pool: Created new child process', child.pid);
       allWorkers[child.pid!] = child;
+
+      if (hasPrlimit && options.maxWorkerMemoryMb) {
+        // RLIMIT_AS counts virtual address space, not RSS.
+        // Node/V8 routinely reserves 4-8GB of virtual memory at startup
+        // (page table entries are cheap on 64-bit). We set a generous limit
+        // that only catches truly runaway allocations.
+        const limitBytes = Math.ceil(
+          (options.maxWorkerMemoryMb * 10 + 2048) * 1024 * 1024
+        );
+        applyMemoryLimit(child.pid!, limitBytes, logger);
+      }
     } else {
       child = maybeChild as ChildProcess;
       logger.debug('pool: Using existing child process', child.pid);
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/rlimit.ts b/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/rlimit.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2966fa684
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/src/worker/rlimit.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import type { Logger } from '@openfn/logger';
+
+let prlimitAvailable: boolean | null = null;
+
+/**
+ * Check if the prlimit command is available (Linux with util-linux).
+ * Result is cached for the process lifetime.
+ */
+export function detectPrlimitSupport(logger: Logger): boolean {
+  if (prlimitAvailable !== null) return prlimitAvailable;
+
+  try {
+    execFileSync('prlimit', ['--version'], { stdio: 'ignore' });
+    prlimitAvailable = true;
+    logger.info('prlimit: memory enforcement available');
+  } catch {
+    prlimitAvailable = false;
+    logger.debug('prlimit: not available (util-linux not installed)');
+  }
+
+  return prlimitAvailable;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Apply RLIMIT_AS (virtual address space limit) to a child process.
+ * When exceeded, mmap/brk fails with ENOMEM, causing the process to crash.
+ */
+export function applyMemoryLimit(
+  pid: number,
+  limitBytes: number,
+  logger: Logger
+): boolean {
+  try {
+    execFileSync('prlimit', [
+      '--pid',
+      String(pid),
+      `--as=${limitBytes}:${limitBytes}`,
+    ]);
+    logger.debug(
+      `prlimit: worker ${pid} RLIMIT_AS set to ${Math.round(
+        limitBytes / 1024 / 1024
+      )}MB`
+    );
+    return true;
+  } catch (e: any) {
+    logger.warn(`prlimit: failed to set limit for worker ${pid}:`, e.message);
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+// Exported for testing only
+export function _resetCache(): void {
+  prlimitAvailable = null;
+}
diff --git a/packages/engine-multi/test/worker/rlimit.test.ts b/packages/engine-multi/test/worker/rlimit.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..71ade8b0e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/engine-multi/test/worker/rlimit.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+import test from 'ava';
+import { createMockLogger } from '@openfn/logger';
+
+import {
+  detectPrlimitSupport,
+  applyMemoryLimit,
+  _resetCache,
+} from '../../src/worker/rlimit';
+
+const logger = createMockLogger();
+
+test.beforeEach(() => {
+  _resetCache();
+});
+
+test('detectPrlimitSupport caches the result across calls', (t) => {
+  const result1 = detectPrlimitSupport(logger);
+  const result2 = detectPrlimitSupport(logger);
+  t.is(result1, result2);
+});
+
+// On macOS, prlimit is not available
+const isLinux = process.platform === 'linux';
+
+if (!isLinux) {
+  test('detectPrlimitSupport returns false on non-Linux', (t) => {
+    const result = detectPrlimitSupport(logger);
+    t.false(result);
+  });
+}
+
+test('applyMemoryLimit returns false when prlimit is not available', (t) => {
+  if (detectPrlimitSupport(logger)) {
+    t.pass('prlimit is available — skipping negative test');
+    return;
+  }
+  const result = applyMemoryLimit(99999, 500 * 1024 * 1024, logger);
+  t.false(result);
+});
+
+// Integration tests — only run on Linux with prlimit available
+const hasPrlimit = isLinux && detectPrlimitSupport(createMockLogger());
+_resetCache(); // reset after the check so tests start clean
+
+const prlimitTest = hasPrlimit ? test : test.skip;
+
+prlimitTest('applyMemoryLimit succeeds on own process', (t) => {
+  // Apply a very generous limit to our own process (won't interfere with test)
+  const result = applyMemoryLimit(process.pid, 8 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024, logger);
+  t.true(result);
+});