diff --git a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
index 59839911f7f..64bec047d8d 100644
--- a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
+++ b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ dockercfg-path
 driver-port
 dry-run
 duration-sec
+e2e-verify-service-account
 e2e-output-dir
 enable-debugging-handlers
 enable-horizontal-pod-autoscaler
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e_test.go b/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
index cb7a833f44e..628c814e563 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e_test.go
@@ -81,6 +81,7 @@ func init() {
 	flag.IntVar(&testContext.MinStartupPods, "minStartupPods", 0, "The number of pods which we need to see in 'Running' state with a 'Ready' condition of true, before we try running tests. This is useful in any cluster which needs some base pod-based services running before it can be used.")
 	flag.StringVar(&testContext.UpgradeTarget, "upgrade-target", "latest_ci", "Version to upgrade to (e.g. 'latest_stable', 'latest_release', 'latest_ci', '0.19.1', '0.19.1-669-gabac8c8') if doing an upgrade test.")
 	flag.StringVar(&testContext.PrometheusPushGateway, "prom-push-gateway", "", "The URL to prometheus gateway, so that metrics can be pushed during e2es and scraped by prometheus. Typically something like 127.0.0.1:9091.")
+	flag.BoolVar(&testContext.VerifyServiceAccount, "e2e-verify-service-account", true, "If true tests will verify the service account before running.")
 }
 
 func TestE2E(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework.go b/test/e2e/framework.go
index 136b42ab7ae..ae5e506cada 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework.go
@@ -67,9 +67,13 @@ func (f *Framework) beforeEach() {
 
 	f.Namespace = namespace
 
-	By("Waiting for a default service account to be provisioned in namespace")
-	err = waitForDefaultServiceAccountInNamespace(c, namespace.Name)
-	Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+	if testContext.VerifyServiceAccount {
+		By("Waiting for a default service account to be provisioned in namespace")
+		err = waitForDefaultServiceAccountInNamespace(c, namespace.Name)
+		Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+	} else {
+		Logf("Skipping waiting for service account")
+	}
 }
 
 // afterEach deletes the namespace, after reading its events.
diff --git a/test/e2e/util.go b/test/e2e/util.go
index 104cb4aa07b..239738f6f7e 100644
--- a/test/e2e/util.go
+++ b/test/e2e/util.go
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ type TestContextType struct {
 	MinStartupPods        int
 	UpgradeTarget         string
 	PrometheusPushGateway string
+	VerifyServiceAccount  bool
 }
 
 var testContext TestContextType
@@ -481,8 +482,10 @@ func createTestingNS(baseName string, c *client.Client) (*api.Namespace, error)
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	if err := waitForDefaultServiceAccountInNamespace(c, got.Name); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+	if testContext.VerifyServiceAccount {
+		if err := waitForDefaultServiceAccountInNamespace(c, got.Name); err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
 	}
 	return got, nil
 }