diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 2186d55e9c..66fffd226d 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1744,6 +1744,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "const-random",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "dns-lookup"
+version = "2.0.4"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "e5766087c2235fec47fafa4cfecc81e494ee679d0fd4a59887ea0919bfb0e4fc"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "libc",
+ "socket2 0.5.5",
+ "windows-sys 0.48.0",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "dsl_auto_type"
 version = "0.1.1"
@@ -5724,6 +5736,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "control_plane",
  "diesel",
  "diesel_migrations",
+ "dns-lookup",
  "fail",
  "futures",
  "git-version",
diff --git a/storage_controller/Cargo.toml b/storage_controller/Cargo.toml
index d14b235046..8fd777c3dc 100644
--- a/storage_controller/Cargo.toml
+++ b/storage_controller/Cargo.toml
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ diesel = { version = "2.1.4", features = [
 ] }
 diesel_migrations = { version = "2.1.0" }
 r2d2 = { version = "0.8.10" }
+dns-lookup = { version = "2.0.4" }
 
 utils = { path = "../libs/utils/" }
 metrics = { path = "../libs/metrics/" }
diff --git a/storage_controller/src/main.rs b/storage_controller/src/main.rs
index a954d9bab2..52bb5dc654 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/main.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/main.rs
@@ -277,6 +277,7 @@ async fn async_main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         split_threshold: args.split_threshold,
         neon_local_repo_dir: args.neon_local_repo_dir,
         start_as_candidate: args.start_as_candidate,
+        http_service_port: args.listen.port() as i32,
     };
 
     // After loading secrets & config, but before starting anything else, apply database migrations
diff --git a/storage_controller/src/service.rs b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
index c10ad3a990..ea7ac29cef 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/service.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
@@ -16,8 +16,10 @@ use crate::{
     compute_hook::NotifyError,
     id_lock_map::{trace_exclusive_lock, trace_shared_lock, IdLockMap, TracingExclusiveGuard},
     metrics::LeadershipStatusGroup,
-    peer_client::GlobalObservedState,
-    persistence::{AbortShardSplitStatus, MetadataHealthPersistence, TenantFilter},
+    peer_client::{GlobalObservedState, PeerClient},
+    persistence::{
+        AbortShardSplitStatus, LeaderPersistence, MetadataHealthPersistence, TenantFilter,
+    },
     reconciler::{ReconcileError, ReconcileUnits},
     scheduler::{MaySchedule, ScheduleContext, ScheduleMode},
     tenant_shard::{
@@ -324,6 +326,8 @@ pub struct Config {
     pub neon_local_repo_dir: Option<PathBuf>,
 
     pub start_as_candidate: bool,
+
+    pub http_service_port: i32,
 }
 
 impl From<DatabaseError> for ApiError {
@@ -491,6 +495,11 @@ pub(crate) enum ReconcileResultRequest {
     Stop,
 }
 
+struct LeaderStepDownState {
+    observed: GlobalObservedState,
+    leader: LeaderPersistence,
+}
+
 impl Service {
     pub fn get_config(&self) -> &Config {
         &self.config
@@ -6194,4 +6203,88 @@ impl Service {
 
         global_observed
     }
+
+    /// Collect the details for the current proccess wishing to become the storage controller
+    /// leader.
+    ///
+    /// On failures to discover and resolve the hostname the process is killed and we rely on k8s to retry.
+    fn get_proposed_leader_info(&self) -> LeaderPersistence {
+        let hostname = match dns_lookup::get_hostname() {
+            Ok(name) => name,
+            Err(err) => {
+                tracing::error!("Failed to discover hostname: {err}. Aborting start-up ...");
+                std::process::exit(1);
+            }
+        };
+
+        let mut addrs = match dns_lookup::lookup_host(&hostname) {
+            Ok(addrs) => addrs,
+            Err(err) => {
+                tracing::error!("Failed to resolve hostname: {err}. Aborting start-up ...");
+                std::process::exit(1);
+            }
+        };
+
+        let addr = addrs
+            .pop()
+            .expect("k8s configured hostname always resolves");
+
+        let proposed = LeaderPersistence {
+            hostname: addr.to_string(),
+            port: self.get_config().http_service_port,
+            started_at: chrono::Utc::now(),
+        };
+
+        tracing::info!("Proposed leader details are: {proposed:?}");
+
+        proposed
+    }
+
+    /// Request step down from the currently registered leader in the database
+    ///
+    /// If such an entry is persisted, the success path returns the observed
+    /// state and details of the leader. Otherwise, None is returned indicating
+    /// there is no leader currently.
+    ///
+    /// On failures to query the database or step down error responses the process is killed
+    /// and we rely on k8s to retry.
+    async fn request_step_down(&self) -> Option<LeaderStepDownState> {
+        let leader = match self.persistence.get_leader().await {
+            Ok(leader) => leader,
+            Err(err) => {
+                tracing::error!(
+                    "Failed to query database for current leader: {err}. Aborting start-up ..."
+                );
+                std::process::exit(1);
+            }
+        };
+
+        match leader {
+            Some(leader) => {
+                // TODO: jwt token
+                let client = PeerClient::new(
+                    leader.hostname.to_owned(),
+                    leader.port,
+                    self.config.jwt_token.clone(),
+                );
+                let state = client.step_down(&self.cancel).await;
+                match state {
+                    Ok(state) => Some(LeaderStepDownState {
+                        observed: state,
+                        leader: leader.clone(),
+                    }),
+                    Err(err) => {
+                        tracing::error!(
+                            "Leader ({}:{}) did not respond to step-down request: {}",
+                            leader.hostname,
+                            leader.port,
+                            err
+                        );
+                        None
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            None => None,
+        }
+    }
 }