diff --git a/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/java/runner/config/ServiceAccountSpecification.java b/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/java/runner/config/ServiceAccountSpecification.java
index b4718838ac..9e6d5f0bef 100644
--- a/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/java/runner/config/ServiceAccountSpecification.java
+++ b/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/java/runner/config/ServiceAccountSpecification.java
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@
 
 public class ServiceAccountSpecification implements SpecificationInterface {
   public String name;
-  public String jsonKeyCredFilePath;
+  public String jsonKeyDirectoryPath;
+  public String jsonKeyFilename;
 
   public File jsonKeyFile;
 
   public static final String resourceDirectory = "serviceaccounts";
-  public static final String keyCredFilePathEnvironmentVarName =
-      "GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS";
+  public static final String keyDirectoryPathEnvironmentVarName =
+      "TEST_RUNNER_SA_KEY_DIRECTORY_PATH";
 
   ServiceAccountSpecification() {}
 
@@ -33,20 +34,20 @@ public static ServiceAccountSpecification fromJSONFile(String resourceFileName)
     ServiceAccountSpecification serviceAccount =
         objectMapper.readValue(inputStream, ServiceAccountSpecification.class);
 
-    String credFilePathEnvVarOverride = readCredFilePathEnvironmentVariable();
-    if (credFilePathEnvVarOverride != null) {
-      serviceAccount.jsonKeyCredFilePath = credFilePathEnvVarOverride;
+    String keyDirectoryPathEnvVarOverride = readKeyDirectoryPathEnvironmentVariable();
+    if (keyDirectoryPathEnvVarOverride != null) {
+      serviceAccount.jsonKeyDirectoryPath = keyDirectoryPathEnvVarOverride;
     }
 
     return serviceAccount;
   }
 
-  protected static String readCredFilePathEnvironmentVariable() {
-    // look for a full file path defined for the service account credentials
+  protected static String readKeyDirectoryPathEnvironmentVariable() {
+    // look for the service account JSON key file in a directory defined by, in order:
     //   1. environment variable
-    //   2. service account jsonKeyCredFilePath property
-    String keyCredFilePathEnvironmentVarValue = System.getenv(keyCredFilePathEnvironmentVarName);
-    return keyCredFilePathEnvironmentVarValue;
+    //   2. service account jsonKeyDirectoryPath property
+    String keyDirectoryPathEnvironmentVarValue = System.getenv(keyDirectoryPathEnvironmentVarName);
+    return keyDirectoryPathEnvironmentVarValue;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -56,14 +57,19 @@ protected static String readCredFilePathEnvironmentVariable() {
   public void validate() {
     if (name == null || name.equals("")) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException("Service account name cannot be empty");
-    } else if (jsonKeyCredFilePath == null || jsonKeyCredFilePath.equals("")) {
-      throw new IllegalArgumentException("JSON key file path cannot be empty");
+    } else if (jsonKeyFilename == null || jsonKeyFilename.equals("")) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("JSON key file name cannot be empty");
+    } else if (jsonKeyDirectoryPath == null || jsonKeyDirectoryPath.equals("")) {
+      throw new IllegalArgumentException("JSON key directory path cannot be empty");
     }
 
-    jsonKeyFile = new File(jsonKeyCredFilePath);
+    jsonKeyFile = new File(jsonKeyDirectoryPath, jsonKeyFilename);
     if (!jsonKeyFile.exists()) {
       throw new IllegalArgumentException(
-          "JSON key file does not exist: (filePath)" + jsonKeyCredFilePath);
+          "JSON key file does not exist: (directory)"
+              + jsonKeyDirectoryPath
+              + ", (filename)"
+              + jsonKeyFilename);
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/servers/staging.json b/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/servers/staging.json
index 7fbee79d3a..7e8cf98694 100644
--- a/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/servers/staging.json
+++ b/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/servers/staging.json
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     "name": "ModularHelmChart",
     "parameters": ["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/broadinstitute/datarepo-helm-definitions/master/staging/datarepo-api.yaml"]
   },
-  "testRunnerServiceAccountFile": "jade-k8-sa.json",
+  "testRunnerServiceAccountFile": "staging-test-runner-sa.json",
   "skipDeployment": true,
   "skipKubernetes": true
 }
diff --git a/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/serviceaccounts/jade-k8-sa.json b/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/serviceaccounts/jade-k8-sa.json
index 8236ef34e7..cc9e7649b3 100644
--- a/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/serviceaccounts/jade-k8-sa.json
+++ b/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/serviceaccounts/jade-k8-sa.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
   "name": "jade-k8-sa@broad-jade-dev.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
-  "jsonKeyCredFilePath": "/tmp/jade-dev-account.json"
+  "jsonKeyFilename": "jade-dev-account.json",
+  "jsonKeyDirectoryPath": "/tmp"
 }
diff --git a/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/serviceaccounts/staging-test-runner-sa.json b/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/serviceaccounts/staging-test-runner-sa.json
index 4e367000bd..0ea06036ef 100644
--- a/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/serviceaccounts/staging-test-runner-sa.json
+++ b/datarepo-clienttests/src/main/resources/serviceaccounts/staging-test-runner-sa.json
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 {
   "name": "datarepo-jade-test-runner@terra-datarepo-staging.iam.gserviceaccount.com",
-  "jsonKeyCredFilePath": "/tmp/staging-test-runner.json"
+  "jsonKeyFilename": "staging-test-runner.json",
+  "jsonKeyDirectoryPath": "/tmp"
 }