diff --git a/lib/iris/src/iris/cluster/platform/coreweave.py b/lib/iris/src/iris/cluster/platform/coreweave.py
index c845fe6d90..a9333f0f5b 100644
--- a/lib/iris/src/iris/cluster/platform/coreweave.py
+++ b/lib/iris/src/iris/cluster/platform/coreweave.py
@@ -384,6 +384,9 @@ def _ensure_one_nodepool(
                 "nodeLabels": {
                     self._iris_labels.iris_managed: "true",
                     self._iris_labels.iris_scale_group: scale_group_name,
+                    # Pin Konnectivity agents and monitoring pods to always-on nodes
+                    # so GPU NodePools can safely scale to zero.
+                    **({"cks.coreweave.cloud/system-critical": "true"} if min_nodes > 0 else {}),
                 },
             },
         }