diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
index 0144fd1056bac..e5551e673f6fe 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/deploy/SparkSubmitArguments.scala
@@ -189,7 +189,9 @@ private[deploy] class SparkSubmitArguments(args: Seq[String], env: Map[String, S
       .orElse(env.get("DEPLOY_MODE"))
       .orNull
     numExecutors = Option(numExecutors)
-      .getOrElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.executor.instances").orNull)
+      .orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.executor.instances"))
+      .orElse(env.get("SPARK_EXECUTOR_INSTANCES"))
+      .orNull
     queue = Option(queue).orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.yarn.queue")).orNull
     keytab = Option(keytab).orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.yarn.keytab")).orNull
     principal = Option(principal).orElse(sparkProperties.get("spark.yarn.principal")).orNull