diff --git a/buildman/manager/ephemeral.py b/buildman/manager/ephemeral.py
index 40876cdf5..7e24094c8 100644
--- a/buildman/manager/ephemeral.py
+++ b/buildman/manager/ephemeral.py
@@ -157,8 +157,12 @@ class EphemeralBuilderManager(BaseManager):
 
     etcd_host = self._manager_config.get('ETCD_HOST', '127.0.0.1')
     etcd_port = self._manager_config.get('ETCD_PORT', 2379)
-    etcd_auth = self._manager_config.get('ETCD_CERT_AND_KEY', None)
     etcd_ca_cert = self._manager_config.get('ETCD_CA_CERT', None)
+
+    etcd_auth = self._manager_config.get('ETCD_CERT_AND_KEY', None)
+    if etcd_auth is not None:
+      etcd_auth = tuple(etcd_auth)  # Convert YAML list to a tuple
+
     etcd_protocol = 'http' if etcd_auth is None else 'https'
     logger.debug('Connecting to etcd on %s:%s', etcd_host, etcd_port)