diff --git a/.env.dist b/.env.dist
index d2886e2..323f21f 100644
--- a/.env.dist
+++ b/.env.dist
@@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ ENGINE_WORKER_TIMEOUT=3600
 ENGINE_WORKER_RETRY=4500
 ENGINE_WORKER_MAX_ATTEMPTS=0
 
+# Django Q SQS Broker
+SQS_BROKER_QUEUE_NAME=composite-handler-queue
+
 # Run migrations
 MIGRATE=True
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c81ab80..f635ad9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -91,9 +91,18 @@ The following list of environment variables are supported:
 | `MIGRATE`                     | None                           | API, Engine  | If "True" will run migrations + createcachetable on startup if entrypoint used.                                                                                                                                                                                              |
 | `INIT_SUPERUSER`              | None                           | API, Engine  | If "True" will attempt to create superuser. Needs standard Django envvars to be set (e.g. `DJANGO_SUPERUSER_USERNAME`, `DJANGO_SUPERUSER_EMAIL`, `DJANGO_SUPERUSER_PASSWORD`) if entrypoint used.                                                                            |
 | `GUNICORN_WORKERS`            | `2`                            | API          | The value of [`--workers`](https://docs.gunicorn.org/en/stable/run.html) arg when running gunicorn                                                                                                                                                                           |
+| `SQS_BROKER_QUEUE_NAME`       | None                           | API, Engine  | If set, django-q [SQS broker](https://django-q.readthedocs.io/en/latest/brokers.html#amazon-sqs) will be used. Queue created if doesn't exist. If empty default [Django ORM broker](https://django-q.readthedocs.io/en/latest/brokers.html#django-orm) is used               |
 
 Note that in order to access the S3 bucket, the Composite Handler assumes that valid AWS credentials are available in the environment - this can be in the former of [environment variables](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-configure-envvars.html), or in the form of ambient credentials.
 
+### Django Q Broker
+
+By default Django Q will use the default [Django ORM](https://django-q.readthedocs.io/en/latest/brokers.html#django-orm) broker.
+
+The [SQS broker](https://django-q.readthedocs.io/en/latest/brokers.html#amazon-sqs) can be configured by specifying the `SQS_BROKER_QUEUE_NAME` environment variable. Default SQS broker behaviour is to create this queue if it is not found.
+
+As with S3, above, Composite Handler assumes that valid AWS credentials are available in the environment.
+
 ## Building
 
 The project ships with a [`Dockerfile`](./Dockerfile):
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index fe7918c..247f757 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ services:
       - INIT_SUPERUSER=True
     ports:
       - "8000:8000"
+    volumes:
+      - $HOME/.aws:/srv/dlcs/.aws:ro
   engine:
     build: .
     command: /srv/dlcs/entrypoint-worker.sh
diff --git a/src/app/settings.py b/src/app/settings.py
index af2ff3d..58f1c28 100644
--- a/src/app/settings.py
+++ b/src/app/settings.py
@@ -156,9 +156,14 @@
     "timeout": env("ENGINE_WORKER_TIMEOUT", cast=int, default=3600),
     "retry": env("ENGINE_WORKER_RETRY", cast=int, default=4500),
     "max_attempts": env("ENGINE_WORKER_MAX_ATTEMPTS", cast=int, default=0),
-    "orm": "default",
 }
 
+if sqs_queue_name := env.str("SQS_BROKER_QUEUE_NAME", default=""):
+    Q_CLUSTER["name"] = sqs_queue_name
+    Q_CLUSTER["sqs"] = {}
+else:
+    Q_CLUSTER["orm"] = "default"
+
 SCRATCH_DIRECTORY = env.path("SCRATCH_DIRECTORY", default="/tmp/scratch")
 
 WEB_SERVER = {