diff --git a/nifi-nar-bundles/nifi-scripting-bundle/nifi-scripting-processors/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/script/impl/JythonScriptEngineConfigurator.java b/nifi-nar-bundles/nifi-scripting-bundle/nifi-scripting-processors/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/script/impl/JythonScriptEngineConfigurator.java
index 3b8271bd5a..7dac7ba84f 100644
--- a/nifi-nar-bundles/nifi-scripting-bundle/nifi-scripting-processors/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/script/impl/JythonScriptEngineConfigurator.java
+++ b/nifi-nar-bundles/nifi-scripting-bundle/nifi-scripting-processors/src/main/java/org/apache/nifi/script/impl/JythonScriptEngineConfigurator.java
@@ -20,15 +20,22 @@ import org.apache.nifi.logging.ComponentLog;
 import org.apache.nifi.processors.script.ScriptEngineConfigurator;
 import org.python.core.PyString;
 
+import javax.script.Compilable;
+import javax.script.CompiledScript;
 import javax.script.ScriptEngine;
 import javax.script.ScriptException;
 import java.net.URL;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 /**
  * A helper class to configure the Jython engine with any specific requirements
  */
 public class JythonScriptEngineConfigurator implements ScriptEngineConfigurator {
 
+    private final AtomicReference<CompiledScript> compiledScriptRef = new AtomicReference<>();
+
     @Override
     public String getScriptEngineName() {
         return "python";
@@ -41,17 +48,9 @@ public class JythonScriptEngineConfigurator implements ScriptEngineConfigurator
     }
 
     @Override
-    public Object init(ScriptEngine engine, String[] modulePaths) throws ScriptException {
-        if (engine != null) {
-            // Need to import the module path inside the engine, in order to pick up
-            // other Python/Jython modules.
-            engine.eval("import sys");
-            if (modulePaths != null) {
-                for (String modulePath : modulePaths) {
-                    engine.eval("sys.path.append(" + PyString.encode_UnicodeEscape(modulePath, true) + ")");
-                }
-            }
-        }
+    public Object init(ScriptEngine engine, String[] modulePaths) {
+        // Always compile when first run
+        compiledScriptRef.set(null);
         return null;
     }
 
@@ -59,7 +58,17 @@ public class JythonScriptEngineConfigurator implements ScriptEngineConfigurator
     public Object eval(ScriptEngine engine, String scriptBody, String[] modulePaths) throws ScriptException {
         Object returnValue = null;
         if (engine != null) {
-            returnValue = engine.eval(scriptBody);
+            final CompiledScript existing = compiledScriptRef.get();
+            if (existing == null) {
+
+                // Add prefix for import sys and all jython modules
+                String prefix = "import sys\n"
+                        + Arrays.stream(modulePaths).map((modulePath) -> "sys.path.append(" + PyString.encode_UnicodeEscape(modulePath, true) + ")")
+                        .collect(Collectors.joining("\n"));
+                final CompiledScript compiled = ((Compilable) engine).compile(prefix + scriptBody);
+                compiledScriptRef.compareAndSet(null, compiled);
+            }
+            returnValue = compiledScriptRef.get().eval();
         }
         return returnValue;
     }
diff --git a/nifi-nar-bundles/nifi-scripting-bundle/nifi-scripting-processors/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/processors/script/TestExecuteJython.java b/nifi-nar-bundles/nifi-scripting-bundle/nifi-scripting-processors/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/processors/script/TestExecuteJython.java
index a8827aae5f..d682669b56 100644
--- a/nifi-nar-bundles/nifi-scripting-bundle/nifi-scripting-processors/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/processors/script/TestExecuteJython.java
+++ b/nifi-nar-bundles/nifi-scripting-bundle/nifi-scripting-processors/src/test/java/org/apache/nifi/processors/script/TestExecuteJython.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package org.apache.nifi.processors.script;
 import org.apache.nifi.script.ScriptingComponentUtils;
 import org.apache.nifi.util.MockFlowFile;
 import org.junit.Before;
+import org.junit.Ignore;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
@@ -73,6 +74,28 @@ public class TestExecuteJython extends BaseScriptTest {
         runner.assertValid();
         runner.enqueue("test content".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
         runner.run();
+    }
 
+    @Ignore("This is more of an integration test, can be run before and after changes to ExecuteScript to measure performance improvements")
+    @Test
+    public void testPerformance() throws Exception {
+        runner.setValidateExpressionUsage(false);
+        runner.setProperty(scriptingComponent.getScriptingComponentHelper().SCRIPT_ENGINE, "python");
+        runner.setProperty(ScriptingComponentUtils.SCRIPT_BODY,
+                "from org.apache.nifi.processors.script import ExecuteScript\n"
+                        + "flowFile = session.get()\n"
+                        + "flowFile = session.putAttribute(flowFile, \"from-content\", \"test content\")\n"
+                        + "session.transfer(flowFile, ExecuteScript.REL_SUCCESS)");
+
+        runner.assertValid();
+        final int ITERATIONS = 50000;
+        for (int i = 0; i < ITERATIONS; i++) {
+            runner.enqueue("test content".getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
+        }
+        runner.run(ITERATIONS);
+
+        runner.assertAllFlowFilesTransferred(ExecuteScript.REL_SUCCESS, ITERATIONS);
+        final List<MockFlowFile> result = runner.getFlowFilesForRelationship(ExecuteScript.REL_SUCCESS);
+        result.get(0).assertAttributeEquals("from-content", "test content");
     }
 }