diff --git a/docs/changelog/103873.yaml b/docs/changelog/103873.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..937106043ecf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/103873.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+pr: 103873
+summary: Catch exceptions during `pytorch_inference` startup
+area: Machine Learning
+type: bug
+issues: []
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/deployment/DeploymentManager.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/deployment/DeploymentManager.java
index ef5de2718e702..18e89732daf21 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/deployment/DeploymentManager.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/deployment/DeploymentManager.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.master.AcknowledgedResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.internal.Client;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.EsRejectedExecutionException;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.LoggingDeprecationHandler;
 import org.elasticsearch.core.TimeValue;
@@ -200,9 +201,18 @@ public void startDeployment(TrainedModelDeploymentTask task, ActionListener<Trai
                         // here, we are being called back on the searching thread, which MAY be a network thread
                         // `startAndLoad` creates named pipes, blocking the calling thread, better to execute that in our utility
                         // executor.
-                        executorServiceForDeployment.execute(
-                            () -> processContext.startAndLoad(modelConfig.getLocation(), modelLoadedListener)
-                        );
+                        executorServiceForDeployment.execute(new AbstractRunnable() {
+
+                            @Override
+                            public void onFailure(Exception e) {
+                                failedDeploymentListener.onFailure(e);
+                            }
+
+                            @Override
+                            protected void doRun() {
+                                processContext.startAndLoad(modelConfig.getLocation(), modelLoadedListener);
+                            }
+                        });
                     }, failedDeploymentListener::onFailure)
                 );
             } else {
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/NativePyTorchProcessFactory.java b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/NativePyTorchProcessFactory.java
index b26c6720ed179..e538a6c686881 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/NativePyTorchProcessFactory.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/ml/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/ml/inference/pytorch/process/NativePyTorchProcessFactory.java
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ public NativePyTorchProcess createProcess(
             process.start(executorService);
         } catch (IOException | EsRejectedExecutionException e) {
             String msg = "Failed to connect to pytorch process for job " + task.getDeploymentId();
-            logger.error(msg);
+            logger.error(msg, e);
             try {
                 IOUtils.close(process);
             } catch (IOException ioe) {