diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 5a0146aa08..1147386e55 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -3595,6 +3595,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "dotenv",
  "easyenv",
  "enums",
+ "envvar",
  "errors",
  "hostname",
  "hyper 0.14.24",
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 2dafc2ba55..2d4fd8b744 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ RUN touch .env-secrets
 
 # Some services have default env files that live under their code directories
 # These should also be readable from the relative current path
+COPY crates/service/job/inference_job/inference-job.env .
 COPY crates/service/web/storyteller_web/storyteller-web.env .
 
 EXPOSE 8080
diff --git a/crates/service/job/inference_job/Cargo.toml b/crates/service/job/inference_job/Cargo.toml
index e246ca97cf..af6f418999 100644
--- a/crates/service/job/inference_job/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/service/job/inference_job/Cargo.toml
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ cloud_storage = { path = "../../../lib/api_clients/cloud_storage" }
 config = { path = "../../../lib/deprecated/config" }
 container_common = { path = "../../../lib/deprecated/container_common" }
 enums = { path = "../../../_types/enums" }
+envvar = { path = "../../../lib/envvar" }
 errors = { path = "../../../lib/errors" }
 jobs_common = { path = "../../../lib/jobs_common" }
 memory_caching = { path = "../../../lib/caching/memory_caching" }
diff --git a/crates/service/job/inference_job/inference-job.env b/crates/service/job/inference_job/inference-job.env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f54d58c915
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/service/job/inference_job/inference-job.env
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+# inference-job default .env configurations (these can be overridden with k8s)
diff --git a/crates/service/job/inference_job/src/main.rs b/crates/service/job/inference_job/src/main.rs
index 96aea48563..7c560bed74 100644
--- a/crates/service/job/inference_job/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/service/job/inference_job/src/main.rs
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ use r2d2_redis::r2d2;
 use sqlx::mysql::MySqlPoolOptions;
 use std::path::PathBuf;
 use std::time::Duration;
+use crate::job_steps::main_loop::main_loop;
 
 // Buckets (shared config)
 const ENV_ACCESS_KEY : &'static str = "ACCESS_KEY";
@@ -83,6 +84,10 @@ async fn main() -> AnyhowResult<()> {
   // This file should only contain *development* secrets, never production.
   let _ = dotenv::from_filename(".env-secrets").ok();
 
+  let _ = envvar::read_from_filename_and_paths(
+    "inference-job.env",
+    &[".", "crates/service/job/inference_job"])?;
+
   let matches = App::new("tts-inference-job")
       .arg(Arg::with_name("sidecar_hostname")
           .long("sidecar_hostname")
@@ -285,7 +290,7 @@ async fn main() -> AnyhowResult<()> {
     }
   };
 
-  let _job_dependencies = JobDependencies {
+  let job_dependencies = JobDependencies {
     scoped_temp_dir_creator: ScopedTempDirCreator::for_directory(&temp_directory),
     download_temp_directory: temp_directory,
     mysql_pool,
@@ -329,7 +334,7 @@ async fn main() -> AnyhowResult<()> {
   };
 
   // TODO: Main loop start
-  //main_loop_old(inferencer).await;
+  main_loop(job_dependencies).await;
 
   Ok(())
 }