diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/persistence/JobStorageDeletionTask.java b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/persistence/JobStorageDeletionTask.java
index ae574300c81..faa621d4d0b 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/persistence/JobStorageDeletionTask.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/job/persistence/JobStorageDeletionTask.java
@@ -56,25 +56,9 @@ public class JobStorageDeletionTask extends Task {
 
         ActionListener<Boolean> deleteAliasHandler = ActionListener.wrap(finishedHandler, failureHandler);
 
-        // Step 5. Delete categorizer state done, delete the alias
-        ActionListener<Boolean> deleteCategorizerStateHandler = ActionListener.wrap(
-                bulkItemResponses -> deleteAlias(jobId, aliasName, indexName, client, deleteAliasHandler),
-                failureHandler);
-
-        // Step 4. Delete model state done, delete the categorizer state
-        ActionListener<BulkResponse> deleteStateHandler = ActionListener.wrap(
-                response -> deleteCategorizerState(jobId, client, deleteCategorizerStateHandler),
-                failureHandler);
-
-        // Step 3. Delete quantiles done, delete the model state
-        ActionListener<DeleteResponse> deleteQuantilesHandler = ActionListener.wrap(
-                deleteResponse -> deleteModelState(jobId, client, deleteStateHandler),
-                failureHandler);
-
-
-        // Step 2. DBQ done, delete the state
-        // -------
-        ActionListener<BulkByScrollResponse> dbqHandler = ActionListener.wrap(bulkByScrollResponse -> {
+        // Step 5. DBQ state done, delete the alias
+        ActionListener<BulkByScrollResponse> dbqHandler = ActionListener.wrap(
+                bulkByScrollResponse -> {
                     if (bulkByScrollResponse.isTimedOut()) {
                         logger.warn("[{}] DeleteByQuery for indices [{}, {}] timed out.", jobId, indexName, indexPattern);
                     }
@@ -82,23 +66,38 @@ public class JobStorageDeletionTask extends Task {
                         logger.warn("[{}] {} failures encountered while running DeleteByQuery on indices [{}, {}].",
                                 jobId, bulkByScrollResponse.getBulkFailures().size(), indexName, indexPattern);
                     }
-                    deleteQuantiles(jobId, client, deleteQuantilesHandler);
+                    deleteAlias(jobId, aliasName, indexName, client, deleteAliasHandler);
                 },
-                failureHandler
-        );
+                failureHandler);
 
+        // Step 4. Delete categoriser state done, DeleteByQuery on the index, matching all docs with the right job_id
+        ActionListener<Boolean> deleteCategorizerStateHandler = ActionListener.wrap(
+                response -> {
+                    logger.info("Running DBQ on [" + indexName + "," + indexPattern + "] for job [" + jobId + "]");
+                    SearchRequest searchRequest = new SearchRequest(indexName, indexPattern);
+                    DeleteByQueryRequest request = new DeleteByQueryRequest(searchRequest);
+                    ConstantScoreQueryBuilder query =
+                            new ConstantScoreQueryBuilder(new TermQueryBuilder(Job.ID.getPreferredName(), jobId));
+                    searchRequest.source(new SearchSourceBuilder().query(query));
+                    searchRequest.indicesOptions(JobProvider.addIgnoreUnavailable(IndicesOptions.lenientExpandOpen()));
+                    request.setSlices(5);
 
-        // Step 1. DeleteByQuery on the index, matching all docs with the right job_id
-        // -------
-        logger.info("Running DBQ on [" + indexName + "," + indexPattern + "] for job [" + jobId + "]");
-        SearchRequest searchRequest = new SearchRequest(indexName, indexPattern);
-        DeleteByQueryRequest request = new DeleteByQueryRequest(searchRequest);
-        ConstantScoreQueryBuilder query = new ConstantScoreQueryBuilder(new TermQueryBuilder(Job.ID.getPreferredName(), jobId));
-        searchRequest.source(new SearchSourceBuilder().query(query));
-        searchRequest.indicesOptions(JobProvider.addIgnoreUnavailable(IndicesOptions.lenientExpandOpen()));
-        request.setSlices(5);
+                    client.execute(XPackDeleteByQueryAction.INSTANCE, request, dbqHandler);
+                },
+                failureHandler);
 
-        client.execute(XPackDeleteByQueryAction.INSTANCE, request, dbqHandler);
+        // Step 3. Delete quantiles done, delete the categorizer state
+        ActionListener<DeleteResponse> deleteQuantilesHandler = ActionListener.wrap(
+                response -> deleteCategorizerState(jobId, client, deleteCategorizerStateHandler),
+                failureHandler);
+
+        // Step 2. Delete state done, delete the quantiles
+        ActionListener<BulkResponse> deleteStateHandler = ActionListener.wrap(
+                bulkResponse -> deleteQuantiles(jobId, client, deleteQuantilesHandler),
+                failureHandler);
+
+        // Step 1. Delete the model state
+        deleteModelState(jobId, client, deleteStateHandler);
     }
 
     private void deleteQuantiles(String jobId, Client client, ActionListener<DeleteResponse> finishedHandler) {
@@ -107,7 +106,6 @@ public class JobStorageDeletionTask extends Task {
     }
 
     private void deleteModelState(String jobId, Client client, ActionListener<BulkResponse> listener) {
-
         JobProvider jobProvider = new JobProvider(client, Settings.EMPTY);
         jobProvider.modelSnapshots(jobId, 0, 10000,
                 page -> {