diff --git a/control_plane/src/storage_controller.rs b/control_plane/src/storage_controller.rs
index 43c63e7ef4..b70bd2e1b5 100644
--- a/control_plane/src/storage_controller.rs
+++ b/control_plane/src/storage_controller.rs
@@ -20,7 +20,16 @@ use pageserver_client::mgmt_api::ResponseErrorMessageExt;
 use postgres_backend::AuthType;
 use reqwest::Method;
 use serde::{de::DeserializeOwned, Deserialize, Serialize};
-use std::{fs, net::SocketAddr, path::PathBuf, str::FromStr, sync::OnceLock};
+use std::{
+    ffi::OsStr,
+    fs,
+    net::SocketAddr,
+    path::PathBuf,
+    process::ExitStatus,
+    str::FromStr,
+    sync::OnceLock,
+    time::{Duration, Instant},
+};
 use tokio::process::Command;
 use tracing::instrument;
 use url::Url;
@@ -168,16 +177,6 @@ impl StorageController {
         .expect("non-Unicode path")
     }
 
-    /// PIDFile for the postgres instance used to store storage controller state
-    fn postgres_pid_file(&self) -> Utf8PathBuf {
-        Utf8PathBuf::from_path_buf(
-            self.env
-                .base_data_dir
-                .join("storage_controller_postgres.pid"),
-        )
-        .expect("non-Unicode path")
-    }
-
     /// Find the directory containing postgres subdirectories, such `bin` and `lib`
     ///
     /// This usually uses STORAGE_CONTROLLER_POSTGRES_VERSION of postgres, but will fall back
@@ -296,6 +295,31 @@ impl StorageController {
             .map_err(anyhow::Error::new)
     }
 
+    /// Wrapper for the pg_ctl binary, which we spawn as a short-lived subprocess when starting and stopping postgres
+    async fn pg_ctl<I, S>(&self, args: I) -> ExitStatus
+    where
+        I: IntoIterator<Item = S>,
+        S: AsRef<OsStr>,
+    {
+        let pg_bin_dir = self.get_pg_bin_dir().await.unwrap();
+        let bin_path = pg_bin_dir.join("pg_ctl");
+
+        let pg_lib_dir = self.get_pg_lib_dir().await.unwrap();
+        let envs = [
+            ("LD_LIBRARY_PATH".to_owned(), pg_lib_dir.to_string()),
+            ("DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH".to_owned(), pg_lib_dir.to_string()),
+        ];
+
+        Command::new(bin_path)
+            .args(args)
+            .envs(envs)
+            .spawn()
+            .expect("Failed to spawn pg_ctl, binary_missing?")
+            .wait()
+            .await
+            .expect("Failed to wait for pg_ctl termination")
+    }
+
     pub async fn start(&self, start_args: NeonStorageControllerStartArgs) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         let instance_dir = self.storage_controller_instance_dir(start_args.instance_id);
         if let Err(err) = tokio::fs::create_dir(&instance_dir).await {
@@ -404,20 +428,34 @@ impl StorageController {
                 db_start_args
             );
 
-            background_process::start_process(
-                "storage_controller_db",
-                &self.env.base_data_dir,
-                pg_bin_dir.join("pg_ctl").as_std_path(),
-                db_start_args,
-                vec![
-                    ("LD_LIBRARY_PATH".to_owned(), pg_lib_dir.to_string()),
-                    ("DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH".to_owned(), pg_lib_dir.to_string()),
-                ],
-                background_process::InitialPidFile::Create(self.postgres_pid_file()),
-                &start_args.start_timeout,
-                || self.pg_isready(&pg_bin_dir, postgres_port),
-            )
-            .await?;
+            let db_start_status = self.pg_ctl(db_start_args).await;
+            let start_timeout: Duration = start_args.start_timeout.into();
+            let db_start_deadline = Instant::now() + start_timeout;
+            if !db_start_status.success() {
+                return Err(anyhow::anyhow!(
+                    "Failed to start postgres {}",
+                    db_start_status.code().unwrap()
+                ));
+            }
+
+            loop {
+                if Instant::now() > db_start_deadline {
+                    return Err(anyhow::anyhow!("Timed out waiting for postgres to start"));
+                }
+
+                match self.pg_isready(&pg_bin_dir, postgres_port).await {
+                    Ok(true) => {
+                        tracing::info!("storage controller postgres is now ready");
+                        break;
+                    }
+                    Ok(false) => {
+                        tokio::time::sleep(Duration::from_millis(100)).await;
+                    }
+                    Err(e) => {
+                        tracing::warn!("Failed to check postgres status: {e}")
+                    }
+                }
+            }
 
             self.setup_database(postgres_port).await?;
         }
@@ -583,15 +621,10 @@ impl StorageController {
         }
 
         let pg_data_path = self.env.base_data_dir.join("storage_controller_db");
-        let pg_bin_dir = self.get_pg_bin_dir().await?;
 
         println!("Stopping storage controller database...");
         let pg_stop_args = ["-D", &pg_data_path.to_string_lossy(), "stop"];
-        let stop_status = Command::new(pg_bin_dir.join("pg_ctl"))
-            .args(pg_stop_args)
-            .spawn()?
-            .wait()
-            .await?;
+        let stop_status = self.pg_ctl(pg_stop_args).await;
         if !stop_status.success() {
             match self.is_postgres_running().await {
                 Ok(false) => {
@@ -612,14 +645,9 @@ impl StorageController {
 
     async fn is_postgres_running(&self) -> anyhow::Result<bool> {
         let pg_data_path = self.env.base_data_dir.join("storage_controller_db");
-        let pg_bin_dir = self.get_pg_bin_dir().await?;
 
         let pg_status_args = ["-D", &pg_data_path.to_string_lossy(), "status"];
-        let status_exitcode = Command::new(pg_bin_dir.join("pg_ctl"))
-            .args(pg_status_args)
-            .spawn()?
-            .wait()
-            .await?;
+        let status_exitcode = self.pg_ctl(pg_status_args).await;
 
         // pg_ctl status returns this exit code if postgres is not running: in this case it is
         // fine that stop failed.  Otherwise it is an error that stop failed.