diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
index 1c552bbc86b..64220404537 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/threadpool/ThreadPool.java
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ public class ThreadPool extends AbstractComponent {
         executors.put(Names.INDEX, build(Names.INDEX, "cached", groupSettings.get(Names.INDEX), ImmutableSettings.Builder.EMPTY_SETTINGS));
         executors.put(Names.SEARCH, build(Names.SEARCH, "cached", groupSettings.get(Names.SEARCH), ImmutableSettings.Builder.EMPTY_SETTINGS));
         executors.put(Names.PERCOLATE, build(Names.PERCOLATE, "cached", groupSettings.get(Names.PERCOLATE), ImmutableSettings.Builder.EMPTY_SETTINGS));
-        executors.put(Names.MANAGEMENT, build(Names.MANAGEMENT, "scaling", groupSettings.get(Names.MANAGEMENT), ImmutableSettings.Builder.EMPTY_SETTINGS));
+        executors.put(Names.MANAGEMENT, build(Names.MANAGEMENT, "scaling", groupSettings.get(Names.MANAGEMENT), settingsBuilder().put("keep_alive", "30s").put("size", 20).build()));
         executors.put(Names.SNAPSHOT, build(Names.SNAPSHOT, "scaling", groupSettings.get(Names.SNAPSHOT), ImmutableSettings.Builder.EMPTY_SETTINGS));
         executors.put(Names.SAME, MoreExecutors.sameThreadExecutor());
         this.executors = ImmutableMap.copyOf(executors);