diff --git a/e2e/test/cases/kafka/kafka-spec.js b/e2e/test/cases/kafka/kafka-spec.js
index b813feac9d7..7ffb7b715f7 100644
--- a/e2e/test/cases/kafka/kafka-spec.js
+++ b/e2e/test/cases/kafka/kafka-spec.js
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 'use strict';
 
+const uuidv4 = require('uuid/v4');
 const signale = require('signale');
 const misc = require('../../misc');
 const wait = require('../../wait');
@@ -13,20 +14,33 @@ describe('Kafka Tests', () => {
     const teraslice = misc.teraslice();
 
     it('should be able to read and write from kafka', async () => {
-        const sender = await teraslice.jobs.submit(misc.newJob('kafka-sender'));
-        const reader = await teraslice.jobs.submit(misc.newJob('kafka-reader', true));
+        const topic = uuidv4();
+        const groupId = uuidv4();
 
-        await waitForJobStatus(sender, 'completed');
+        const senderSpec = misc.newJob('kafka-sender');
+        const readerSpec = misc.newJob('kafka-reader');
 
-        await reader.start();
-        await waitForIndexCount('kafka-logs-10', 10);
+        senderSpec.operations[1].topic = topic;
+
+        readerSpec.operations[0].topic = topic;
+        readerSpec.operations[0].group = groupId;
+        const { index } = readerSpec.operations[1];
+
+        const sender = await teraslice.jobs.submit(senderSpec);
+
+        const [reader] = await Promise.all([
+            teraslice.jobs.submit(readerSpec),
+            waitForJobStatus(sender, 'completed'),
+        ]);
+
+        await waitForIndexCount(index, 10);
         await reader.stop();
 
         await waitForJobStatus(reader, 'stopped');
 
         let count = 0;
         try {
-            ({ count } = await misc.indexStats('kafka-logs-10'));
+            ({ count } = await misc.indexStats(index));
         } catch (err) {
             signale.error(err);
         }
diff --git a/e2e/test/fixtures/jobs/kafka-reader.json b/e2e/test/fixtures/jobs/kafka-reader.json
index 5612926b1f4..91b4468694c 100644
--- a/e2e/test/fixtures/jobs/kafka-reader.json
+++ b/e2e/test/fixtures/jobs/kafka-reader.json
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
             "group": "example-kafka-group",
             "size": 10,
             "wait": 5000,
-            "offset_reset": "beginning",
             "_encoding": "json"
         },
         {
diff --git a/e2e/test/fixtures/jobs/kafka-sender.json b/e2e/test/fixtures/jobs/kafka-sender.json
index 87e2ce45b1e..212894e8700 100644
--- a/e2e/test/fixtures/jobs/kafka-sender.json
+++ b/e2e/test/fixtures/jobs/kafka-sender.json
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
             "_op": "teraslice_kafka_sender",
             "connection": "default",
             "topic": "example-logs-10",
+            "size": 10,
             "timestamp_field": "created",
             "_encoding": "json"
         }
diff --git a/e2e/test/wait.js b/e2e/test/wait.js
index ba3617c27b8..ea87d4357c5 100644
--- a/e2e/test/wait.js
+++ b/e2e/test/wait.js
@@ -161,10 +161,9 @@ function waitForJobStatus(job, status) {
         });
 }
 
-async function waitForIndexCount(index, expected, remainingMs = 15 * 1000) {
+async function waitForIndexCount(index, expected, remainingMs = 30 * 1000) {
     if (remainingMs <= 0) {
-        expect().fail(`Timeout waiting for ${index} to have count of ${expected}`);
-        return 0;
+        throw new Error(`Timeout waiting for ${index} to have count of ${expected}`);
     }
 
     const start = Date.now();
@@ -181,7 +180,7 @@ async function waitForIndexCount(index, expected, remainingMs = 15 * 1000) {
 
     await Promise.delay(100);
     const elapsed = Date.now() - start;
-    return waitForIndexCount(expected, remainingMs - elapsed);
+    return waitForIndexCount(index, expected, remainingMs - elapsed);
 }
 
 module.exports = {