diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/coordinator/Scheduler.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/coordinator/Scheduler.java
index a2cb4983..10e477a5 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/coordinator/Scheduler.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/coordinator/Scheduler.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ import software.amazon.kinesis.retrieval.RetrievalConfig;
 @Accessors(fluent = true)
 @Slf4j
 public class Scheduler implements Runnable {
-    static final int MAX_INITIALIZATION_ATTEMPTS = 20;
+
     private SchedulerLog slog = new SchedulerLog();
 
     private final CheckpointConfig checkpointConfig;
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ public class Scheduler implements Runnable {
             initialize();
             log.info("Initialization complete. Starting worker loop.");
         } catch (RuntimeException e) {
-            log.error("Unable to initialize after {} attempts. Shutting down.", MAX_INITIALIZATION_ATTEMPTS, e);
+            log.error("Unable to initialize after {} attempts. Shutting down.", lifecycleConfig.maxInitializationAttempts(), e);
             shutdown();
         }
 
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ public class Scheduler implements Runnable {
         boolean isDone = false;
         Exception lastException = null;
 
-        for (int i = 0; (!isDone) && (i < MAX_INITIALIZATION_ATTEMPTS); i++) {
+        for (int i = 0; (!isDone) && (i < lifecycleConfig.maxInitializationAttempts()); i++) {
             try {
                 log.info("Initialization attempt {}", (i + 1));
                 log.info("Initializing LeaseCoordinator");
diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/LifecycleConfig.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/LifecycleConfig.java
index 4286c8f9..eb1fc512 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/LifecycleConfig.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/main/java/software/amazon/kinesis/lifecycle/LifecycleConfig.java
@@ -45,4 +45,9 @@ public class LifecycleConfig {
      * AggregatorUtil is responsible for deaggregating KPL records.
      */
     private AggregatorUtil aggregatorUtil = new AggregatorUtil();
+
+    /**
+     * The maximum number of attempts to initialize the Scheduler
+     */
+    private int maxInitializationAttempts = 20;
 }
diff --git a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/coordinator/SchedulerTest.java b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/coordinator/SchedulerTest.java
index 3b8e31f9..aac15ddf 100644
--- a/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/coordinator/SchedulerTest.java
+++ b/amazon-kinesis-client/src/test/java/software/amazon/kinesis/coordinator/SchedulerTest.java
@@ -240,7 +240,21 @@ public class SchedulerTest {
 
         scheduler.run();
 
-        verify(shardDetector, times(Scheduler.MAX_INITIALIZATION_ATTEMPTS)).listShards();
+        verify(shardDetector, times(lifecycleConfig.maxInitializationAttempts())).listShards();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public final void testInitializationFailureWithRetriesWithConfiguredMaxInitializationAttempts() throws Exception {
+        final int maxInitializationAttempts = 5;
+        lifecycleConfig.maxInitializationAttempts(maxInitializationAttempts);
+
+        doNothing().when(leaseCoordinator).initialize();
+        when(shardDetector.listShards()).thenThrow(new RuntimeException());
+
+        scheduler.run();
+
+        // verify initialization was retried for maxInitializationAttempts times
+        verify(shardDetector, times(maxInitializationAttempts)).listShards();
     }