diff --git a/stimela/backends/kube/__init__.py b/stimela/backends/kube/__init__.py
index 1f460d56..655f0c5c 100644
--- a/stimela/backends/kube/__init__.py
+++ b/stimela/backends/kube/__init__.py
@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@ class DaskCluster(object):
         name: Optional[str] = None
         num_workers: int = 0
         threads_per_worker: int = 1
+        memory_limit: Optional[str] = None
         worker_pod: KubePodSpec = KubePodSpec()
         scheduler_pod: KubePodSpec = KubePodSpec()
         forward_dashboard_port: int = 8787          # set to non-0 to forward the http dashboard to this local port
diff --git a/stimela/backends/kube/daskjob.py b/stimela/backends/kube/daskjob.py
index 80e4ed11..48418b8e 100644
--- a/stimela/backends/kube/daskjob.py
+++ b/stimela/backends/kube/daskjob.py
@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ def create_parser():
         default="compute-runner",
         help="The kubernetes service account which will run the job",
     )
+    p.add_argument(
+        "--pull-policy",
+        default="Always",
+        help="imagePullPolicy setting for pods",
+    )
     p.add_argument(
         "-f",
         "--mount-file",
@@ -131,7 +136,7 @@ def daskjob_template(args):
                                         }
                                     ],
                                     "image": args.image,
-                                    "imagePullPolicy": "IfNotPresent",
+                                    "imagePullPolicy": args.pull_policy,
                                     "livenessProbe": {
                                         "httpGet": {
                                             "path": "/health",
@@ -184,7 +189,7 @@ def daskjob_template(args):
                                         {"name": "WORKER_ENV", "value": "hello-world"}
                                     ],
                                     "image": args.image,
-                                    "imagePullPolicy": "IfNotPresent",
+                                    "imagePullPolicy": args.pull_policy,
                                     "name": "worker",
                                 }
                             ],
@@ -198,7 +203,7 @@ def daskjob_template(args):
                     "containers": [
                         {
                             "image": args.image,
-                            "imagePullPolicy": "IfNotPresent",
+                            "imagePullPolicy": args.pull_policy,
                             "name": "job",
                         }
                     ],
diff --git a/stimela/backends/kube/run_kube.py b/stimela/backends/kube/run_kube.py
index c32c12ff..8b0b0fc9 100644
--- a/stimela/backends/kube/run_kube.py
+++ b/stimela/backends/kube/run_kube.py
@@ -137,7 +137,9 @@ def dprint(level, *args):
                     labels=pod_labels,
                     namespace=namespace,
                     image=image_name,
-                    memory_limit=kube.dask_cluster.worker_pod.memory and kube.dask_cluster.worker_pod.memory.limit,
+                    pull_policy='Always' if kube.always_pull_images else 'IfNotPresent',
+                    memory_limit=kube.dask_cluster.memory_limit if kube.dask_cluster.memory_limit is not None 
+                                    else kube.dask_cluster.worker_pod.memory and kube.dask_cluster.worker_pod.memory.limit,
                     nworkers=kube.dask_cluster.num_workers,
                     threads_per_worker=kube.dask_cluster.threads_per_worker,
                     # cmdline=["/bin/sh", "-c", "while true;do date;sleep 5; done"],