diff --git a/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/configure-webauthn.sh b/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/configure-webauthn.sh
index 2d54f2c831..052c15058e 100644
--- a/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/configure-webauthn.sh
+++ b/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/configure-webauthn.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,15 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
 CONFIG_PATH=/tmp/kcadm.config
-/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --user $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_USER --password $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD --realm master
+if ! /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --realm master --client admin-api --secret ${KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_API_CLIENT_SECRET}
+then
+if ! /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --user $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_USER --password $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD --realm master
+then
+    echo "Unable to log in to keycloak with client admin-api or username and password"
+    echo "If you have rotated the admin-api secret, you will need to log in and update it manually"
+    exit 1
+fi
+fi
 
 if [ "$(/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh get authentication/flows -r "lagoon" --fields id,alias --config $CONFIG_PATH | jq -r '.[] | select(.alias==("Browser-Webauthn")) | .id')" == "" ]; then
     echo "Creating browser flow for webauthn"
diff --git a/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/seed-example-sso.sh b/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/seed-example-sso.sh
index e2b52f2ffd..5f5b7e4759 100644
--- a/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/seed-example-sso.sh
+++ b/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/seed-example-sso.sh
@@ -3,10 +3,15 @@
 CONFIG_PATH=/tmp/kcadm.config
 
 # login to keycloak
-/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials \
-  --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth \
-  --user $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_USER --password $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD \
-  --realm master
+if ! /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --realm master --client admin-api --secret ${KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_API_CLIENT_SECRET}
+then
+   if ! /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --user $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_USER --password $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD --realm master
+   then
+   echo "Unable to log in to keycloak with client admin-api or username and password"
+   echo "If you have rotated the admin-api secret, you will need to log in and update it manually"
+   exit 1
+   fi
+fi
 
 if /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh get realms/sso --config $CONFIG_PATH > /dev/null; then
     echo "Realm sso is already created, skipping"
diff --git a/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/seed-users.sh b/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/seed-users.sh
index 88924d13bb..b098c2d236 100644
--- a/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/seed-users.sh
+++ b/local-dev/k3d-seed-data/seed-users.sh
@@ -42,8 +42,15 @@ function configure_keycloak {
   CONFIG_PATH=/tmp/kcadm.config
 
   echo Keycloak is running, proceeding with configuration
-
-  /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --user $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_USER --password $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD --realm master
+  if ! /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --realm master --client admin-api --secret ${KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_API_CLIENT_SECRET}
+  then
+    if ! /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --user $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_USER --password $KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD --realm master
+    then
+      echo "Unable to log in to keycloak with client admin-api or username and password"
+      echo "If you have rotated the admin-api secret, you will need to log in and update it manually"
+      exit 1
+    fi
+  fi
 
   configure_user_passwords
 
diff --git a/services/api/Dockerfile b/services/api/Dockerfile
index cd289b9fba..6c157433b4 100644
--- a/services/api/Dockerfile
+++ b/services/api/Dockerfile
@@ -29,10 +29,9 @@ RUN yarn check --verify-tree
 # Making sure we run in production
 ENV NODE_ENV=production \
     LOGSDB_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin \
-    KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_USER=admin \
-    KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD=admin \
     ELASTICSEARCH_URL=http://logs-db-service:9200 \
     KEYCLOAK_API_CLIENT_SECRET=39d5282d-3684-4026-b4ed-04bbc034b61a \
+    KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_API_CLIENT_SECRET=bb86d344-a52d-11ef-b872-4f4337ee24f0 \
     REDIS_PASSWORD=admin
 
 # The API is not very resilient to sudden mariadb restarts which can happen when the api and mariadb are starting
diff --git a/services/api/src/clients/keycloak-admin.ts b/services/api/src/clients/keycloak-admin.ts
index 9605c06838..c1510a38a4 100644
--- a/services/api/src/clients/keycloak-admin.ts
+++ b/services/api/src/clients/keycloak-admin.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { decode } from 'jsonwebtoken';
 import { KeycloakAdminClient } from '@s3pweb/keycloak-admin-client-cjs';
 import { logger } from '../loggers/logger';
 import { config } from './keycloakClient';
+import { getConfigFromEnv } from '../util/config';
 
 /// Helper to type check try/catch. Remove when we can stop using the @s3pweb
 // commonJS version.
@@ -49,10 +50,12 @@ export const getKeycloakAdminClient = async (): Promise<KeycloakAdminClient> =>
       });
 
       await keycloakAdminClient.auth({
-        username: config.user,
-        password: config.pass,
-        grantType: 'password',
-        clientId: 'admin-cli',
+        grantType: 'client_credentials',
+        clientId: 'admin-api',
+        clientSecret: getConfigFromEnv(
+          'KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_API_CLIENT_SECRET',
+          '<secret not set>'
+        ),
       });
 
       keycloakAdminClient.setConfig({
diff --git a/services/api/src/clients/keycloakClient.ts b/services/api/src/clients/keycloakClient.ts
index 66208c319c..36714791e4 100644
--- a/services/api/src/clients/keycloakClient.ts
+++ b/services/api/src/clients/keycloakClient.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ import { getConfigFromEnv, getLagoonRouteFromEnv } from '../util/config';
 
 export const config = {
   origin: getConfigFromEnv('KEYCLOAK_URL', 'http://keycloak:8080'),
-  user: getConfigFromEnv('KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_USER', 'admin'),
-  pass: getConfigFromEnv('KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_PASSWORD', '<password not set>'),
   realm: 'lagoon',
   apiClientSecret: getConfigFromEnv(
     'KEYCLOAK_API_CLIENT_SECRET',
diff --git a/services/keycloak/Dockerfile b/services/keycloak/Dockerfile
index 1aac568ab2..933cce2312 100644
--- a/services/keycloak/Dockerfile
+++ b/services/keycloak/Dockerfile
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ ENV TMPDIR=/tmp \
     KEYCLOAK_AUTH_SERVER_CLIENT_SECRET=f605b150-7636-4447-abd3-70988786b330 \
     KEYCLOAK_SERVICE_API_CLIENT_SECRET=d3724d52-34d1-4967-a802-4d178678564b \
     KEYCLOAK_LAGOON_UI_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=20580a56-6fbc-11ef-9a5b-3b4da292aa54 \
+    KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_API_CLIENT_SECRET=bb86d344-a52d-11ef-b872-4f4337ee24f0 \
     LAGOON_DB_VENDOR=mariadb \
     LAGOON_DB_DATABASE=infrastructure \
     LAGOON_DB_USER=api \
diff --git a/services/keycloak/startup-scripts/00-configure-lagoon.sh b/services/keycloak/startup-scripts/00-configure-lagoon.sh
index 5f25941797..3f2ba56d17 100755
--- a/services/keycloak/startup-scripts/00-configure-lagoon.sh
+++ b/services/keycloak/startup-scripts/00-configure-lagoon.sh
@@ -146,6 +146,23 @@ function configure_lagoon_redirect_uris {
   fi
 }
 
+function configure_admin_api_client {
+  # this client is used by the lagoon api to perform actions against keycloak without needing to use the username and password
+  # this allows for configuring the username and password of the admin account with 2fa if required
+  admin_api_client_id=$(/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh get -r master clients?clientId=admin-api --config $CONFIG_PATH)
+  if [ "$admin_api_client_id" != "[ ]" ]; then
+      echo "Client admin-api is already created, skipping basic setup"
+      return 0
+  fi
+  echo Creating client admin-api
+  echo '{"clientId": "admin-api", "publicClient": false, "standardFlowEnabled": false, "serviceAccountsEnabled": true, "secret": "'${KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_API_CLIENT_SECRET}'"}' | /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh create clients --config $CONFIG_PATH -r master -f -
+  ADMIN_API_CLIENT_ID=$(/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh get -r master clients?clientId=admin-api --config $CONFIG_PATH | jq -r '.[0]["id"]')
+  echo Enable fine grained permissions
+  /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh update clients/$ADMIN_API_CLIENT_ID/management/permissions --config $CONFIG_PATH -r master -s enabled=true
+
+	/opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh add-roles -r master --uusername service-account-admin-api --rolename admin --config $CONFIG_PATH
+}
+
 ##############
 # Migrations #
 ##############
@@ -866,7 +883,21 @@ function configure_keycloak {
 
     echo Keycloak is running, proceeding with configuration
 
-    /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --user $KEYCLOAK_USER --password $KEYCLOAK_PASSWORD --realm master
+    # attempt to log in with the admin-api client service account
+    # this can fail the first time as the admin-api client might not exist because it is called by 'configure_admin_api_client'
+    # it will then fall back to using the username and password to authenticate against keycloak
+    # this has the same downside as the username/password problem in that if the user password or the admin-api client secret are ever rotated
+    # then they will need to be changed in keycloak at the same time that the changes are applied when rotating them via lagoon if they are being changed
+    # otherwise there is currently no way to change these without knowing the previous password or client secret
+    if ! /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --realm master --client admin-api --secret ${KEYCLOAK_ADMIN_API_CLIENT_SECRET}
+    then
+      if ! /opt/keycloak/bin/kcadm.sh config credentials --config $CONFIG_PATH --server http://localhost:8080/auth --user $KEYCLOAK_USER --password $KEYCLOAK_PASSWORD --realm master
+      then
+        echo "Unable to log in to keycloak with client admin-api or keycloak admin username and password"
+        echo "If you have rotated the admin-api secret, you will need to log in and update it manually"
+        exit 1
+      fi
+    fi
 
     # Sets the order of migrations, add new ones at the end.
     import_lagoon_realm
@@ -875,6 +906,7 @@ function configure_keycloak {
     configure_smtp_settings
     configure_realm_settings
     configure_lagoon_redirect_uris
+    configure_admin_api_client
 
     check_migrations_version
     migrate_to_custom_group_mapper