diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b6dc231ac..dde87b730 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -21,6 +21,15 @@
 - [v0.1.1](#v011)
 - [v0.1.0](#v010)
 
+## Unreleased
+
+> Release date: TBD
+
+### Added
+
+- Proper `User-Agent` header is now set on outgoing HTTP requests.
+  [#387](https://github.com/Kong/gateway-operator/pull/387)
+
 ## [v1.3.0]
 
 > Release date: 2024-06-24
diff --git a/modules/manager/metadata/metadata.go b/modules/manager/metadata/metadata.go
index 0fca1acbe..50c23dcf5 100644
--- a/modules/manager/metadata/metadata.go
+++ b/modules/manager/metadata/metadata.go
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 // Package metadata includes metadata variables for logging and reporting.
 package metadata
 
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"strings"
+)
+
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Controller Manager - Versioning Information
 // -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -8,6 +13,16 @@ package metadata
 // WARNING: moving any of these variables requires changes to both the Makefile
 //          and the Dockerfile which modify them during the link step with -X
 
+// BuildFlavor is the flavor of the build.
+type BuildFlavor string
+
+const (
+	// OSSFlavor is the open-source flavor.
+	OSSFlavor BuildFlavor = "oss"
+	// EEFlavor is the enterprise flavor.
+	EEFlavor BuildFlavor = "enterprise"
+)
+
 // Info is a struct type that holds the metadata for the controller manager.
 type Info struct {
 	// Release returns the release version, generally a semver like v1.0.0.
@@ -29,7 +44,16 @@ type Info struct {
 	Organization string
 
 	// Flavor is the flavor of the build.
-	Flavor string
+	Flavor BuildFlavor
+}
+
+// UserAgent returns the User-Agent string to use in all HTTP requests made by KGO.
+func (inf Info) UserAgent() string {
+	org := strings.ToLower(inf.Organization)
+	if inf.Flavor == OSSFlavor {
+		return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s-%s/%s", org, inf.ProjectName, OSSFlavor, inf.Release)
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s/%s", org, inf.ProjectName, inf.Release)
 }
 
 var (
@@ -50,9 +74,6 @@ var (
 
 	// Organization is the Kong organization
 	organization = "Kong"
-
-	// Flavor is the flavor of the build.
-	flavor = "oss"
 )
 
 // Metadata returns the metadata for the controller manager.
@@ -64,6 +85,6 @@ func Metadata() Info {
 		Commit:       commit,
 		ProjectName:  projectName,
 		Organization: organization,
-		Flavor:       flavor,
+		Flavor:       OSSFlavor,
 	}
 }
diff --git a/modules/manager/run.go b/modules/manager/run.go
index d69f6526e..cef10fdee 100644
--- a/modules/manager/run.go
+++ b/modules/manager/run.go
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ import (
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
-	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
 	ctrl "sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/healthz"
@@ -82,7 +81,7 @@ type Config struct {
 	DataPlaneControllerEnabled          bool
 	DataPlaneBlueGreenControllerEnabled bool
 
-	// Controllers for speciality APIs and experimental features.
+	// Controllers for specialty APIs and experimental features.
 	AIGatewayControllerEnabled bool
 
 	// webhook and validation options
@@ -156,7 +155,10 @@ func Run(
 		setupLog.Info("leader election disabled")
 	}
 
-	mgr, err := ctrl.NewManager(ctrl.GetConfigOrDie(), ctrl.Options{
+	restCfg := ctrl.GetConfigOrDie()
+	restCfg.UserAgent = metadata.UserAgent()
+
+	mgr, err := ctrl.NewManager(restCfg, ctrl.Options{
 		Scheme: scheme,
 		Metrics: server.Options{
 			BindAddress: cfg.MetricsAddr,
@@ -244,7 +246,7 @@ func Run(
 	// Enable anonnymous reporting when configured but not for development builds
 	// to reduce the noise.
 	if cfg.AnonymousReports && !cfg.DevelopmentMode {
-		stopAnonymousReports, err := setupAnonymousReports(context.Background(), cfg, setupLog, metadata)
+		stopAnonymousReports, err := setupAnonymousReports(context.Background(), restCfg, setupLog, metadata)
 		if err != nil {
 			setupLog.Error(err, "failed setting up anonymous reports")
 		} else {
@@ -353,35 +355,19 @@ func (m *caManager) maybeCreateCACertificate(ctx context.Context) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func getKubeconfig(apiServerPath string, kubeconfig string) (*rest.Config, error) {
-	config, err := clientcmd.BuildConfigFromFlags(apiServerPath, kubeconfig)
-	if err != nil {
-		// Fall back to default client loading rules.
-		loadingRules := clientcmd.NewDefaultClientConfigLoadingRules()
-		// if you want to change the loading rules (which files in which order), you can do so here
-		kubeConfig := clientcmd.NewNonInteractiveDeferredLoadingClientConfig(loadingRules, nil)
-		return kubeConfig.ClientConfig()
-	}
-	return config, nil
-}
-
 // setupAnonymousReports sets up and starts the anonymous reporting and returns
 // a cleanup function and an error.
 // The caller is responsible to call the returned function - when the returned
 // error is not nil - to stop the reports sending.
-func setupAnonymousReports(ctx context.Context, cfg Config, logger logr.Logger, metadata metadata.Info) (func(), error) {
+func setupAnonymousReports(ctx context.Context, restCfg *rest.Config, logger logr.Logger, metadata metadata.Info) (func(), error) {
 	logger.Info("starting anonymous reports")
-	restConfig, err := getKubeconfig(cfg.APIServerPath, cfg.KubeconfigPath)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get kubeconfig: %w", err)
-	}
 
 	payload := telemetry.Payload{
 		"v":      metadata.Release,
 		"flavor": metadata.Flavor,
 	}
 
-	tMgr, err := telemetry.CreateManager(telemetry.SignalPing, restConfig, logger, payload)
+	tMgr, err := telemetry.CreateManager(telemetry.SignalPing, restCfg, logger, payload)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create anonymous reports manager: %w", err)
 	}