diff --git a/pkg/api/addons.go b/pkg/api/addons.go
index e058fdf2f1..d3444de3bd 100644
--- a/pkg/api/addons.go
+++ b/pkg/api/addons.go
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ func (cs *ContainerService) setAddonsConfig(isUpgrade bool) {
 
 	defaultNVIDIADevicePluginAddonsConfig := KubernetesAddon{
 		Name:    common.NVIDIADevicePluginAddonName,
-		Enabled: to.BoolPtr(cs.Properties.IsNvidiaDevicePluginCapable() && !cs.Properties.IsAzureStackCloud()),
+		Enabled: to.BoolPtr(cs.Properties.IsNvidiaDevicePluginCapable() && !cs.Properties.IsAzureStackCloud() && !cs.Properties.OrchestratorProfile.KubernetesConfig.NeedsContainerd()),
 		Containers: []KubernetesContainerSpec{
 			{
 				Name: common.NVIDIADevicePluginAddonName,
diff --git a/pkg/api/addons_test.go b/pkg/api/addons_test.go
index d5ee49f634..07109f8eaa 100644
--- a/pkg/api/addons_test.go
+++ b/pkg/api/addons_test.go
@@ -1439,6 +1439,34 @@ func TestSetAddonsConfig(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			}, "1.15.4"),
 		},
+		{
+			name: "containerd w/ N series SKU",
+			cs: &ContainerService{
+				Properties: &Properties{
+					OrchestratorProfile: &OrchestratorProfile{
+						OrchestratorVersion: "1.20.5",
+						KubernetesConfig: &KubernetesConfig{
+							KubernetesImageBaseType: common.KubernetesImageBaseTypeMCR,
+							DNSServiceIP:            DefaultKubernetesDNSServiceIP,
+							KubeletConfig: map[string]string{
+								"--cluster-domain": "cluster.local",
+							},
+							ClusterSubnet:    DefaultKubernetesSubnet,
+							ProxyMode:        KubeProxyModeIPTables,
+							NetworkPlugin:    NetworkPluginAzure,
+							ContainerRuntime: Containerd,
+						},
+					},
+					AgentPoolProfiles: []*AgentPoolProfile{
+						{
+							VMSize: "Standard_NC6",
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			isUpgrade:      false,
+			expectedAddons: getDefaultAddons("1.20.5", "", common.KubernetesImageBaseTypeMCR),
+		},
 		{
 			name: "container-monitoring addon enabled",
 			cs: &ContainerService{
diff --git a/test/e2e/kubernetes/kubernetes_test.go b/test/e2e/kubernetes/kubernetes_test.go
index 1b90ce87ee..005f802d63 100644
--- a/test/e2e/kubernetes/kubernetes_test.go
+++ b/test/e2e/kubernetes/kubernetes_test.go
@@ -1750,6 +1750,18 @@ var _ = Describe("Azure Container Cluster using the Kubernetes Orchestrator", fu
 	Describe("with a GPU-enabled agent pool", func() {
 		It("should be able to run a nvidia-gpu job", func() {
 			if eng.ExpandedDefinition.Properties.HasNSeriesSKU() {
+				if hasAddon, _ := eng.HasAddon("nvidia-device-plugin"); !hasAddon {
+					By("Installing nvidia gpu-operator helm chart")
+					commandArgsSlice := []string{"upgrade", "--install", "--wait", "gpu-operator", "--repo", "https://nvidia.github.io/gpu-operator", "gpu-operator"}
+					if eng.ExpandedDefinition.Properties.OrchestratorProfile.KubernetesConfig.NeedsContainerd() {
+						commandArgsSlice = append(commandArgsSlice, []string{"--set", "operator.defaultRuntime=containerd"}...)
+					}
+					cmd := exec.Command("helm", commandArgsSlice...)
+					out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+					log.Printf("%s\n", out)
+					Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
+				}
+				By("Running a CUDA vector job")
 				j, err := job.CreateJobFromFileWithRetry(filepath.Join(WorkloadDir, "cuda-vector-add.yaml"), "cuda-vector-add", "default", 3*time.Second, cfg.Timeout)
 				Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
 				ready, err := j.WaitOnSucceeded(30*time.Second, cfg.Timeout)