diff --git a/src/server/lib/kubernetes/jobFactory.ts b/src/server/lib/kubernetes/jobFactory.ts
index 37ea3f1..79f9c30 100644
--- a/src/server/lib/kubernetes/jobFactory.ts
+++ b/src/server/lib/kubernetes/jobFactory.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ export interface JobConfig {
   ttl?: number;
   labels: Record<string, string>;
   annotations?: Record<string, string>;
+  podAnnotations?: Record<string, string>;
   initContainers?: any[];
   containers: any[];
   volumes?: any[];
@@ -46,6 +47,7 @@ export function createKubernetesJob(config: JobConfig): V1Job {
     ttl,
     labels,
     annotations = {},
+    podAnnotations = {},
     initContainers = [],
     containers,
     volumes = [],
@@ -82,6 +84,7 @@ export function createKubernetesJob(config: JobConfig): V1Job {
             'app.kubernetes.io/component': component,
             ...(labels['lc-service'] && { 'lc-service': labels['lc-service'] }),
           },
+          ...(Object.keys(podAnnotations).length > 0 && { annotations: podAnnotations }),
         },
         spec: {
           serviceAccountName: serviceAccount,
@@ -117,6 +120,7 @@ export interface BuildJobConfig {
   initContainers: any[];
   containers: any[];
   volumes?: any[];
+  podAnnotations?: Record<string, string>;
 }
 
 export function createBuildJob(config: BuildJobConfig): V1Job {
@@ -143,6 +147,7 @@ export function createBuildJob(config: BuildJobConfig): V1Job {
       'lifecycle.io/dockerfile': config.dockerfilePath,
       'lifecycle.io/ecr-repo': config.ecrRepo,
     },
+    podAnnotations: config.podAnnotations,
     initContainers: config.initContainers,
     containers: config.containers,
     volumes: config.volumes || [{ name: 'workspace', emptyDir: {} }],
diff --git a/src/server/lib/nativeBuild/__tests__/buildkit.test.ts b/src/server/lib/nativeBuild/__tests__/buildkit.test.ts
index 1ce03c6..116c07f 100644
--- a/src/server/lib/nativeBuild/__tests__/buildkit.test.ts
+++ b/src/server/lib/nativeBuild/__tests__/buildkit.test.ts
@@ -426,6 +426,145 @@ describe('build resource precedence', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('build pod annotations', () => {
+  const mockDeploy = {
+    deployable: { name: 'test-service' },
+    $fetchGraph: jest.fn(),
+    build: { isStatic: false },
+  } as any;
+
+  const baseOptions: BuildkitBuildOptions = {
+    ecrRepo: 'test-repo',
+    ecrDomain: '123456789.dkr.ecr.us-east-1.amazonaws.com',
+    envVars: { NODE_ENV: 'production' },
+    dockerfilePath: 'Dockerfile',
+    tag: 'v1.0.0',
+    revision: 'abc123def456789',
+    repo: 'owner/repo',
+    branch: 'main',
+    namespace: 'env-test-123',
+    buildId: '456',
+    deployUuid: 'test-service-abc123',
+    jobTimeout: 1800,
+  };
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    jest.clearAllMocks();
+    (getGitHubToken as jest.Mock).mockResolvedValue('github-token-123');
+    (shellPromise as jest.Mock).mockResolvedValue('');
+    (waitForJobAndGetLogs as jest.Mock).mockResolvedValue({
+      logs: 'Build completed successfully',
+      success: true,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it('includes safe-to-evict annotation on pod template by default', async () => {
+    (GlobalConfigService.getInstance as jest.Mock).mockReturnValue({
+      getAllConfigs: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({}),
+    });
+
+    await buildkitBuild(mockDeploy, baseOptions);
+
+    const kubectlCalls = (shellPromise as jest.Mock).mock.calls;
+    const applyCall = kubectlCalls.find((call) => call[0].includes('kubectl apply'));
+    const fullCommand = applyCall[0];
+
+    expect(fullCommand).toContain('cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict: "false"');
+  });
+
+  it('applies custom podAnnotations from global config to pod template', async () => {
+    const globalConfig = {
+      buildDefaults: {
+        podAnnotations: {
+          'custom-annotation/team': 'platform',
+          'custom-annotation/cost-center': 'engineering',
+        },
+      },
+    };
+    (GlobalConfigService.getInstance as jest.Mock).mockReturnValue({
+      getAllConfigs: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(globalConfig),
+    });
+
+    await buildkitBuild(mockDeploy, baseOptions);
+
+    const kubectlCalls = (shellPromise as jest.Mock).mock.calls;
+    const applyCall = kubectlCalls.find((call) => call[0].includes('kubectl apply'));
+    const fullCommand = applyCall[0];
+
+    expect(fullCommand).toContain('custom-annotation/team: "platform"');
+    expect(fullCommand).toContain('custom-annotation/cost-center: "engineering"');
+    expect(fullCommand).toContain('cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict: "false"');
+  });
+
+  it('applies per-service podAnnotations from options', async () => {
+    (GlobalConfigService.getInstance as jest.Mock).mockReturnValue({
+      getAllConfigs: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue({}),
+    });
+
+    await buildkitBuild(mockDeploy, {
+      ...baseOptions,
+      podAnnotations: { 'my-org/service-tier': 'critical' },
+    });
+
+    const kubectlCalls = (shellPromise as jest.Mock).mock.calls;
+    const applyCall = kubectlCalls.find((call) => call[0].includes('kubectl apply'));
+    const fullCommand = applyCall[0];
+
+    expect(fullCommand).toContain('my-org/service-tier: "critical"');
+    expect(fullCommand).toContain('cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict: "false"');
+  });
+
+  it('per-service podAnnotations override global config podAnnotations', async () => {
+    const globalConfig = {
+      buildDefaults: {
+        podAnnotations: {
+          'my-org/team': 'platform',
+        },
+      },
+    };
+    (GlobalConfigService.getInstance as jest.Mock).mockReturnValue({
+      getAllConfigs: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(globalConfig),
+    });
+
+    await buildkitBuild(mockDeploy, {
+      ...baseOptions,
+      podAnnotations: { 'my-org/team': 'frontend' },
+    });
+
+    const kubectlCalls = (shellPromise as jest.Mock).mock.calls;
+    const applyCall = kubectlCalls.find((call) => call[0].includes('kubectl apply'));
+    const fullCommand = applyCall[0];
+
+    expect(fullCommand).toContain('my-org/team: "frontend"');
+    expect(fullCommand).not.toContain('my-org/team: "platform"');
+  });
+
+  it('hardcoded safe-to-evict cannot be overridden by global config or options', async () => {
+    const globalConfig = {
+      buildDefaults: {
+        podAnnotations: {
+          'cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict': 'true',
+        },
+      },
+    };
+    (GlobalConfigService.getInstance as jest.Mock).mockReturnValue({
+      getAllConfigs: jest.fn().mockResolvedValue(globalConfig),
+    });
+
+    await buildkitBuild(mockDeploy, {
+      ...baseOptions,
+      podAnnotations: { 'cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict': 'true' },
+    });
+
+    const kubectlCalls = (shellPromise as jest.Mock).mock.calls;
+    const applyCall = kubectlCalls.find((call) => call[0].includes('kubectl apply'));
+    const fullCommand = applyCall[0];
+
+    expect(fullCommand).toContain('cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict: "false"');
+    expect(fullCommand).not.toContain('cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict: "true"');
+  });
+});
+
 describe('generateSecretArgsScript', () => {
   it('returns comment when no secret keys provided', () => {
     expect(generateSecretArgsScript(undefined)).toBe('# No secret env keys');
diff --git a/src/server/lib/nativeBuild/engines.ts b/src/server/lib/nativeBuild/engines.ts
index 9ddfc55..b9ce1f7 100644
--- a/src/server/lib/nativeBuild/engines.ts
+++ b/src/server/lib/nativeBuild/engines.ts
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ export interface NativeBuildOptions {
   };
   secretRefs?: string[];
   secretEnvKeys?: string[];
+  podAnnotations?: Record<string, string>;
 }
 
 interface BuildEngine {
@@ -279,6 +280,11 @@ export async function buildWithEngine(
   const serviceAccount = options.serviceAccount || buildDefaults.serviceAccount || 'native-build-sa';
   const jobTimeout = options.jobTimeout || buildDefaults.jobTimeout || 2100;
   const resources = options.resources || buildDefaults.resources?.[engineName] || DEFAULT_BUILD_RESOURCES[engineName];
+  const podAnnotations = {
+    ...buildDefaults.podAnnotations,
+    ...options.podAnnotations,
+    'cluster-autoscaler.kubernetes.io/safe-to-evict': 'false',
+  };
 
   const cacheRegistry = options.cacheRegistry || buildDefaults.cacheRegistry;
 
@@ -424,6 +430,7 @@ export async function buildWithEngine(
         emptyDir: {},
       },
     ],
+    podAnnotations,
   });
 
   const jobYaml = yaml.dump(job, { quotingType: '"', forceQuotes: true });
diff --git a/src/server/models/yaml/YamlService.ts b/src/server/models/yaml/YamlService.ts
index 18f4ed3..1616f9e 100644
--- a/src/server/models/yaml/YamlService.ts
+++ b/src/server/models/yaml/YamlService.ts
@@ -289,6 +289,7 @@ export interface Builder {
     readonly requests?: Record<string, string>;
     readonly limits?: Record<string, string>;
   };
+  readonly podAnnotations?: Record<string, string>;
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/server/services/deploy.ts b/src/server/services/deploy.ts
index abcee2d..aafc691 100644
--- a/src/server/services/deploy.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/deploy.ts
@@ -1108,6 +1108,7 @@ export default class DeployService extends BaseService {
             deployUuid: deploy.uuid,
             cacheRegistry: buildDefaults?.cacheRegistry,
             resources: deployable.builder?.resources,
+            podAnnotations: deployable.builder?.podAnnotations,
             secretRefs: buildSecretNames,
             secretEnvKeys: Array.from(secretEnvKeys),
           };
diff --git a/src/server/services/types/globalConfig.ts b/src/server/services/types/globalConfig.ts
index 2f7d7a9..acfd2ce 100644
--- a/src/server/services/types/globalConfig.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/types/globalConfig.ts
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ export type BuildDefaults = {
   jobTimeout?: number;
   serviceAccount?: string;
   cacheRegistry?: string;
+  podAnnotations?: Record<string, string>;
   resources?: {
     buildkit?: ResourceRequirements;
     kaniko?: ResourceRequirements;