diff --git a/integrations/optimum/src/haystack_integrations/components/embedders/optimum/_backend.py b/integrations/optimum/src/haystack_integrations/components/embedders/optimum/_backend.py
index 69acbc543b..953412f61f 100644
--- a/integrations/optimum/src/haystack_integrations/components/embedders/optimum/_backend.py
+++ b/integrations/optimum/src/haystack_integrations/components/embedders/optimum/_backend.py
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
 from haystack.utils import Secret, deserialize_secrets_inplace
 from haystack.utils.hf import HFModelType, check_valid_model, deserialize_hf_model_kwargs, serialize_hf_model_kwargs
 from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download
-from sentence_transformers.models import Pooling as SentenceTransformerPoolingLayer
 from tqdm import tqdm
 from transformers import AutoTokenizer
 from transformers.modeling_outputs import BaseModelOutput
@@ -28,6 +27,15 @@
 from .pooling import OptimumEmbedderPooling
 from .quantization import OptimumEmbedderQuantizationConfig
 
+# for sentence-transformers Pooling, we use the new module path if available. It also ships correct types
+# we also keep compatibility with older versions of sentence-transformers
+try:
+    from sentence_transformers.sentence_transformer.modules import Pooling as SentenceTransformerPoolingLayer
+except ImportError:
+    from sentence_transformers.models import (  # type: ignore[import-not-found, no-redef]
+        Pooling as SentenceTransformerPoolingLayer,
+    )
+
 
 @dataclass
 class _EmbedderParams: