diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/qa/single-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/integration/DataFramePivotRestIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/qa/single-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/integration/DataFramePivotRestIT.java
index 4fb8ea6fafd..0a6ebe0b9ae 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/qa/single-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/integration/DataFramePivotRestIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/qa/single-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/integration/DataFramePivotRestIT.java
@@ -6,7 +6,12 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.xpack.dataframe.integration;
 
+import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
+import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.Request;
+import org.elasticsearch.client.dataframe.transforms.DataFrameTransformTaskState;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentBuilder;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.support.XContentMapValues;
 import org.junit.Before;
 
@@ -17,7 +22,9 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
+import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.security.authc.support.UsernamePasswordToken.basicAuthHeaderValue;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
@@ -723,6 +730,44 @@ public class DataFramePivotRestIT extends DataFrameRestTestCase {
         assertEquals(4.47169811, actual.doubleValue(), 0.000001);
     }
 
+    public void testBulkIndexFailuresCauseTaskToFail() throws Exception {
+        String transformId = "bulk-failure-pivot";
+        String dataFrameIndex = "pivot-failure-index";
+        createPivotReviewsTransform(transformId, dataFrameIndex, null, null, null);
+
+        try (XContentBuilder builder = jsonBuilder()) {
+            builder.startObject();
+            {
+                builder.startObject("mappings")
+                    .startObject("properties")
+                    .startObject("reviewer")
+                    // This type should cause mapping coercion type conflict on bulk index
+                    .field("type", "long")
+                    .endObject()
+                    .endObject()
+                    .endObject();
+            }
+            builder.endObject();
+            final StringEntity entity = new StringEntity(Strings.toString(builder), ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON);
+            Request req = new Request("PUT", dataFrameIndex);
+            req.setEntity(entity);
+            client().performRequest(req);
+        }
+        startDataframeTransform(transformId, false, null);
+
+        assertBusy(() -> assertEquals(DataFrameTransformTaskState.FAILED.value(), getDataFrameTaskState(transformId)),
+            120,
+            TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+
+        Map<?, ?> state = getDataFrameState(transformId);
+        assertThat((String) XContentMapValues.extractValue("state.reason", state),
+            containsString("task encountered more than 10 failures; latest failure: Bulk index experienced failures."));
+
+        // Force stop the transform as bulk indexing caused it to go into a failed state
+        stopDataFrameTransform(transformId, true);
+        deleteIndex(dataFrameIndex);
+    }
+
     private void assertOnePivotValue(String query, double expected) throws IOException {
         Map<String, Object> searchResult = getAsMap(query);
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/qa/single-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/integration/DataFrameRestTestCase.java b/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/qa/single-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/integration/DataFrameRestTestCase.java
index 1b068c93364..81afc161e14 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/qa/single-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/integration/DataFrameRestTestCase.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/qa/single-node-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/integration/DataFrameRestTestCase.java
@@ -211,7 +211,8 @@ public abstract class DataFrameRestTestCase extends ESRestTestCase {
                 + "     \"avg_rating\": {"
                 + "       \"avg\": {"
                 + "         \"field\": \"stars\""
-                + " } } } }"
+                + " } } } },"
+                + "\"frequency\":\"1s\""
                 + "}";
 
         createDataframeTransformRequest.setJsonEntity(config);
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/transforms/DataFrameTransformTask.java b/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/transforms/DataFrameTransformTask.java
index 3b9f47ba397..a5fda55eb73 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/transforms/DataFrameTransformTask.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/data-frame/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/dataframe/transforms/DataFrameTransformTask.java
@@ -591,21 +591,31 @@ public class DataFrameTransformTask extends AllocatedPersistentTask implements S
                 BulkAction.INSTANCE,
                 request,
                 ActionListener.wrap(bulkResponse -> {
-                    if (bulkResponse.hasFailures() && auditBulkFailures) {
+                    if (bulkResponse.hasFailures()) {
                         int failureCount = 0;
                         for(BulkItemResponse item : bulkResponse.getItems()) {
                             if (item.isFailed()) {
                                 failureCount++;
                             }
+                            // TODO gather information on irrecoverable failures and update isIrrecoverableFailure
                         }
-                        auditor.warning(transformId,
-                            "Experienced at least [" +
-                                failureCount +
-                                "] bulk index failures. See the logs of the node running the transform for details. " +
-                                bulkResponse.buildFailureMessage());
-                        auditBulkFailures = false;
+                        if (auditBulkFailures) {
+                            auditor.warning(transformId,
+                                "Experienced at least [" +
+                                    failureCount +
+                                    "] bulk index failures. See the logs of the node running the transform for details. " +
+                                    bulkResponse.buildFailureMessage());
+                            auditBulkFailures = false;
+                        }
+                        // This calls AsyncTwoPhaseIndexer#finishWithIndexingFailure
+                        // It increments the indexing failure, and then calls the `onFailure` logic
+                        nextPhase.onFailure(
+                            new BulkIndexingException("Bulk index experienced failures. " +
+                                "See the logs of the node running the transform for details."));
+                    } else {
+                        auditBulkFailures = true;
+                        nextPhase.onResponse(bulkResponse);
                     }
-                    nextPhase.onResponse(bulkResponse);
                 }, nextPhase::onFailure));
         }
 
@@ -817,4 +827,11 @@ public class DataFrameTransformTask extends AllocatedPersistentTask implements S
                 }, e -> {}));
         }
     }
+
+    // Considered a recoverable indexing failure
+    private static class BulkIndexingException extends ElasticsearchException {
+        BulkIndexingException(String msg, Object... args) {
+            super(msg, args);
+        }
+    }
 }