diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
index 61d662d25d..421f718ad6 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/compaction.rs
@@ -1646,19 +1646,23 @@ impl Timeline {
         use std::collections::BTreeSet;
 
         // Block other compaction/GC tasks from running for now. GC-compaction could run along
-        // with legacy compaction tasks in the future.
+        // with legacy compaction tasks in the future. Always ensure the lock order is compaction -> gc.
+        // Note that we already acquired the compaction lock when the outer `compact` function gets called.
 
-        let _compaction_lock = tokio::select! {
-            guard = self.compaction_lock.lock() => guard,
-            // TODO: refactor to CompactionError to correctly pass cancelled error
-            _ = cancel.cancelled() => return Err(anyhow!("cancelled")),
+        let gc_lock = async {
+            tokio::select! {
+                guard = self.gc_lock.lock() => Ok(guard),
+                // TODO: refactor to CompactionError to correctly pass cancelled error
+                _ = cancel.cancelled() => Err(anyhow!("cancelled")),
+            }
         };
 
-        let _gc = tokio::select! {
-            guard = self.gc_lock.lock() => guard,
-            // TODO: refactor to CompactionError to correctly pass cancelled error
-            _ = cancel.cancelled() => return Err(anyhow!("cancelled")),
-        };
+        let gc_lock = crate::timed(
+            gc_lock,
+            "acquires gc lock",
+            std::time::Duration::from_secs(5),
+        )
+        .await?;
 
         info!("running enhanced gc bottom-most compaction");
 
@@ -2063,9 +2067,11 @@ impl Timeline {
             let mut guard = self.layers.write().await;
             guard.finish_gc_compaction(&layer_selection, &compact_to, &self.metrics)
         };
-
         self.remote_client
             .schedule_compaction_update(&layer_selection, &compact_to)?;
+
+        drop(gc_lock);
+
         Ok(())
     }
 }
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/delete.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/delete.rs
index 9b2403f899..05178c38b4 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/delete.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/timeline/delete.rs
@@ -63,10 +63,19 @@ pub(super) async fn delete_local_timeline_directory(
     tenant_shard_id: TenantShardId,
     timeline: &Timeline,
 ) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-    let guards = async { tokio::join!(timeline.gc_lock.lock(), timeline.compaction_lock.lock()) };
-    let guards = crate::timed(
-        guards,
-        "acquire gc and compaction locks",
+    // Always ensure the lock order is compaction -> gc.
+    let compaction_lock = timeline.compaction_lock.lock();
+    let compaction_lock = crate::timed(
+        compaction_lock,
+        "acquires compaction lock",
+        std::time::Duration::from_secs(5),
+    )
+    .await;
+
+    let gc_lock = timeline.gc_lock.lock();
+    let gc_lock = crate::timed(
+        gc_lock,
+        "acquires gc lock",
         std::time::Duration::from_secs(5),
     )
     .await;
@@ -107,7 +116,8 @@ pub(super) async fn delete_local_timeline_directory(
         .context("fsync_pre_mark_remove")?;
 
     info!("finished deleting layer files, releasing locks");
-    drop(guards);
+    drop(gc_lock);
+    drop(compaction_lock);
 
     fail::fail_point!("timeline-delete-after-rm", |_| {
         Err(anyhow::anyhow!("failpoint: timeline-delete-after-rm"))?