diff --git a/helm/litellm-helm/templates/migrations-job.yaml b/helm/litellm-helm/templates/migrations-job.yaml
index f8a660e23f8..5a873cbb965 100644
--- a/helm/litellm-helm/templates/migrations-job.yaml
+++ b/helm/litellm-helm/templates/migrations-job.yaml
@@ -119,4 +119,7 @@ spec:
       {{- end }}
   ttlSecondsAfterFinished: {{ .Values.migrationJob.ttlSecondsAfterFinished }}
   backoffLimit: {{ .Values.migrationJob.backoffLimit }}
+  {{- with .Values.migrationJob.activeDeadlineSeconds }}
+  activeDeadlineSeconds: {{ . }}
+  {{- end }}
 {{- end }}
diff --git a/helm/litellm-helm/tests/migrations-job_tests.yaml b/helm/litellm-helm/tests/migrations-job_tests.yaml
index cb962118a25..e327a3ec201 100644
--- a/helm/litellm-helm/tests/migrations-job_tests.yaml
+++ b/helm/litellm-helm/tests/migrations-job_tests.yaml
@@ -314,3 +314,31 @@ tests:
               operator: Equal
               value: litellm-e2e
               effect: NoSchedule
+
+  - it: bounds the Job with a deadline by default, so a blocked migration cannot stall the release forever
+    set:
+      migrationJob:
+        enabled: true
+    asserts:
+      - equal:
+          path: spec.activeDeadlineSeconds
+          value: 1800
+
+  - it: honours an operator-supplied deadline
+    set:
+      migrationJob:
+        enabled: true
+        activeDeadlineSeconds: 600
+    asserts:
+      - equal:
+          path: spec.activeDeadlineSeconds
+          value: 600
+
+  - it: omits the deadline entirely when it is nulled out, restoring the unbounded behaviour
+    set:
+      migrationJob:
+        enabled: true
+        activeDeadlineSeconds: null
+    asserts:
+      - notExists:
+          path: spec.activeDeadlineSeconds
diff --git a/helm/litellm-helm/values.yaml b/helm/litellm-helm/values.yaml
index df2b55723fe..628ca038339 100644
--- a/helm/litellm-helm/values.yaml
+++ b/helm/litellm-helm/values.yaml
@@ -427,6 +427,13 @@ migrationJob:
   enabled: true # Enable or disable the schema migration Job
   retries: 3 # Number of retries for the Job in case of failure
   backoffLimit: 4 # Backoff limit for Job restarts
+  # Wall-clock budget for the whole Job, shared across every `backoffLimit`
+  # retry rather than granted per attempt. Without it a migration that blocks
+  # on the database never fails, and when the Helm hook is enabled the release
+  # waits on it forever: `helm upgrade` and any GitOps controller driving it
+  # stop reconciling the whole chart until someone deletes the Job by hand.
+  # Set to null to opt out and restore the unbounded behaviour.
+  activeDeadlineSeconds: 1800
   disableSchemaUpdate: false # Skip schema migrations for specific environments. When True, the job will exit with code 0.
   # Optional service account for the migration job.
   # Only used when migrationJob.hooks.helm.enabled=true and serviceAccount.create=true.
diff --git a/helm/litellm/templates/migrations-job.yaml b/helm/litellm/templates/migrations-job.yaml
index 2debe8a1e10..9cd8397f794 100644
--- a/helm/litellm/templates/migrations-job.yaml
+++ b/helm/litellm/templates/migrations-job.yaml
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ metadata:
 spec:
   backoffLimit: {{ .Values.migrationJob.backoffLimit }}
   ttlSecondsAfterFinished: {{ .Values.migrationJob.ttlSecondsAfterFinished }}
+  {{- with .Values.migrationJob.activeDeadlineSeconds }}
+  activeDeadlineSeconds: {{ . }}
+  {{- end }}
   template:
     metadata:
       {{- /* The Job's selector is generated by the controller rather than
diff --git a/helm/litellm/tests/migration_job_tests.yaml b/helm/litellm/tests/migration_job_tests.yaml
index 12e525c5a8c..c3f3083ece5 100644
--- a/helm/litellm/tests/migration_job_tests.yaml
+++ b/helm/litellm/tests/migration_job_tests.yaml
@@ -167,3 +167,24 @@ tests:
       - equal:
           path: spec.template.metadata.labels['app.kubernetes.io/component']
           value: batch-migrations
+
+  - it: bounds the Job with a deadline by default, so a blocked migration cannot stall the release forever
+    asserts:
+      - equal:
+          path: spec.activeDeadlineSeconds
+          value: 1800
+
+  - it: honours an operator-supplied deadline
+    set:
+      migrationJob.activeDeadlineSeconds: 600
+    asserts:
+      - equal:
+          path: spec.activeDeadlineSeconds
+          value: 600
+
+  - it: omits the deadline entirely when it is nulled out, restoring the unbounded behaviour
+    set:
+      migrationJob.activeDeadlineSeconds: null
+    asserts:
+      - notExists:
+          path: spec.activeDeadlineSeconds
diff --git a/helm/litellm/values.yaml b/helm/litellm/values.yaml
index 7820a898ef1..3f8aacfce17 100644
--- a/helm/litellm/values.yaml
+++ b/helm/litellm/values.yaml
@@ -56,6 +56,15 @@ migrationJob:
   enabled: true
   backoffLimit: 4
   ttlSecondsAfterFinished: 120
+  # Wall-clock budget for the whole Job, shared across every `backoffLimit`
+  # retry rather than granted per attempt. Without it a migration that blocks
+  # on the database never fails, and because this is a pre-upgrade hook the
+  # release waits on it forever: `helm upgrade` and any GitOps controller
+  # driving it stop reconciling the whole chart until someone deletes the Job
+  # by hand. A migration that has exhausted its retries is not going to
+  # succeed on the next one, so failing is strictly better than hanging.
+  # Set to null to opt out and restore the unbounded behaviour.
+  activeDeadlineSeconds: 1800
   resources: {}
   # ServiceAccount for the Job pod only.
   #