diff --git a/.spelling b/.spelling
index 56bcae48472..a6cd2bfe89a 100644
--- a/.spelling
+++ b/.spelling
@@ -532,6 +532,7 @@ v1.12.0
v1.12.1.
v1.12.2.
v1.12.3.
+v1.15.0.
v1alpha1
v1alpha2
v1alpha3
diff --git a/content/docs/configuration/vault.md b/content/docs/configuration/vault.md
index d7571758f45..fdc2edc1852 100644
--- a/content/docs/configuration/vault.md
+++ b/content/docs/configuration/vault.md
@@ -361,7 +361,9 @@ Kubernetes service account token can be provided in two ways:
- [Secretless Authentication with a Service Account](#secretless-authentication-with-a-service-account) (recommended),
- [Authentication with a Static Service Account Token](#static-service-account-token).
-#### Secretless Authentication with a Service Account
+
+
+#### Secretless Authentication with a Service Account (In-Cluster Vault)
ℹ️ This feature is available in cert-manager >= v1.12.0.
@@ -464,7 +466,49 @@ needs to talks to Vault.
Although it is not recommended, you can also use the same Vault role for all of
your Issuers and ClusterIssuers by omitting the `audience` field and re-using
the same service account.
-
+
+#### Secretless Authentication with a Service Account (External Vault)
+
+ℹ️ This feature is available in cert-manager >= v1.15.0.
+
+If you are using a Vault instance external to your cluster, you will need to set
+the `audiences` to an audience accepted by your Kubernetes cluster. When using
+an external Vault instance, the short-lived token created by cert-manager to
+authenticate to Vault will be used by Vault for authenticating to Kubernetes.
+First, find what your cluster's issuer is:
+
+```sh
+kubectl get --raw /.well-known/openid-configuration | jq .issuer -r
+```
+
+Then, set the `audiences` field to the issuer URL:
+
+```yaml
+apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
+kind: Issuer
+metadata:
+ name: vault-issuer
+ namespace: sandbox
+spec:
+ vault:
+ path: pki_int/sign/example-dot-com
+ server: https://vault.local
+ auth:
+ kubernetes:
+ role: my-app-1
+ mountPath: /v1/auth/kubernetes
+ serviceAccountRef:
+ name: vault-issuer
+ audiences: [https://kubernetes.default.svc.cluster.local]
+```
+
+When using `audiences`, the JWT will still include the generated audience
+`vault://namespace/issuer-name` or `vault://cluster-issuer`. The generated
+audience is useful for restricting access to a Vault role to a certain issuer.
+
+When configuring the Kubernetes Vault auth method, omit the `token_reviewer_jwt`
+parameter so that Vault uses the token provided by cert-manager to authenticate
+with the Kubernetes API server when reviewing the token.
#### Authentication with a Static Service Account Token