diff --git a/operator/validator/controller.go b/operator/validator/controller.go
index e08e62b4a2..3076c6c7e5 100644
--- a/operator/validator/controller.go
+++ b/operator/validator/controller.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"math"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -310,6 +311,9 @@ func (c *controller) GetValidatorStats() (uint64, uint64, uint64, error) {
 			active++
 		}
 	}
+	if operatorShares <= math.MaxInt64 {
+		validatorsCountGauge.Record(c.ctx, int64(operatorShares))
+	}
 	return uint64(len(allShares)), active, operatorShares, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/operator/validator/observability.go b/operator/validator/observability.go
index 1386c5cd4a..a5daa95d45 100644
--- a/operator/validator/observability.go
+++ b/operator/validator/observability.go
@@ -36,8 +36,13 @@ var (
 
 	validatorStatusCounter = observability.NewMetric(
 		meter.Int64Counter(
-			metricName("validators"),
+			metricName("validators.per_status"),
 			metric.WithDescription("total number of validators by status")))
+
+	validatorsCountGauge = observability.NewMetric(
+		meter.Int64Gauge(
+			metricName("validators.active"),
+			metric.WithDescription("number of active validators")))
 )
 
 func metricName(name string) string {