diff --git a/tests/functional_tests/shell_test_utils/_run_training.sh b/tests/functional_tests/shell_test_utils/_run_training.sh
index 8f848a24add..654faac31d4 100644
--- a/tests/functional_tests/shell_test_utils/_run_training.sh
+++ b/tests/functional_tests/shell_test_utils/_run_training.sh
@@ -159,10 +159,13 @@ MASTER_PORT=${MASTER_PORT:-6000}
 NUM_NODES=${NUM_NODES:-${SLURM_NNODES:-1}}
 GPUS_PER_NODE=${GPUS_PER_NODE:-8}
 NODE_RANK=${SLURM_NODEID:-${SLURM_NODEID:-0}}
-LAST_RANK=$((GPUS_PER_NODE - 1)) 
+LAST_RANK=$((GPUS_PER_NODE - 1))
 export LOG_DIR=$OUTPUT_PATH/logs/$REPEAT
 mkdir -p $LOG_DIR
 
+# Read launcher type from model config (default: torchrun)
+LAUNCHER=$(/usr/local/bin/yq '.LAUNCHER // "torchrun"' "$TRAINING_PARAMS_PATH")
+
 DISTRIBUTED_ARGS=(
     --nproc_per_node $GPUS_PER_NODE
     --nnodes $NUM_NODES
@@ -176,11 +179,21 @@ DISTRIBUTED_ARGS=(
 
 # Start training
 if [[ "$IS_NEMO_TEST" == "true" ]]; then
-    uv run --no-sync python -m torch.distributed.run ${DISTRIBUTED_ARGS[@]} \
-        --no-python /opt/venv/bin/$TRAINING_SCRIPT_PATH "${PARAMS[@]}" && EXIT_CODE=0 || EXIT_CODE=$?
+    if [[ "$LAUNCHER" == "ft_launcher" ]]; then
+        ft_launcher ${DISTRIBUTED_ARGS[@]} \
+            --no-python /opt/venv/bin/$TRAINING_SCRIPT_PATH "${PARAMS[@]}" && EXIT_CODE=0 || EXIT_CODE=$?
+    else
+        uv run --no-sync python -m torch.distributed.run ${DISTRIBUTED_ARGS[@]} \
+            --no-python /opt/venv/bin/$TRAINING_SCRIPT_PATH "${PARAMS[@]}" && EXIT_CODE=0 || EXIT_CODE=$?
+    fi
 else
-    uv run --no-sync python -m torch.distributed.run ${DISTRIBUTED_ARGS[@]}  \
-        $TRAINING_SCRIPT_PATH "${PARAMS[@]}" && EXIT_CODE=0 || EXIT_CODE=$?
+    if [[ "$LAUNCHER" == "ft_launcher" ]]; then
+        ft_launcher ${DISTRIBUTED_ARGS[@]} \
+            $TRAINING_SCRIPT_PATH "${PARAMS[@]}" && EXIT_CODE=0 || EXIT_CODE=$?
+    else
+        uv run --no-sync python -m torch.distributed.run ${DISTRIBUTED_ARGS[@]}  \
+            $TRAINING_SCRIPT_PATH "${PARAMS[@]}" && EXIT_CODE=0 || EXIT_CODE=$?
+    fi
 fi
 
 # Run after script
diff --git a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp1_pp4_vp1_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer_overlap_grad_reduce_param_gather/model_config.yaml b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp1_pp4_vp1_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer_overlap_grad_reduce_param_gather/model_config.yaml
index bc18bf3e2d8..4f2d19ce559 100644
--- a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp1_pp4_vp1_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer_overlap_grad_reduce_param_gather/model_config.yaml
+++ b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp1_pp4_vp1_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer_overlap_grad_reduce_param_gather/model_config.yaml
@@ -61,3 +61,4 @@ MODEL_ARGS:
   --async-save: true
   --use-persistent-ckpt-worker: true
 TEST_TYPE: regular # Usually ckpt-resume, but as a WAR to #513 set to regular
+LAUNCHER: ft_launcher
diff --git a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp2_pp1_resume_torch_dist_multi_dist_optimizer_instances/model_config.yaml b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp2_pp1_resume_torch_dist_multi_dist_optimizer_instances/model_config.yaml
index 42c361d5f8a..d226ebb89c5 100644
--- a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp2_pp1_resume_torch_dist_multi_dist_optimizer_instances/model_config.yaml
+++ b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp2_pp1_resume_torch_dist_multi_dist_optimizer_instances/model_config.yaml
@@ -57,3 +57,4 @@ MODEL_ARGS:
   --async-save: true
   --use-persistent-ckpt-worker: true
 TEST_TYPE: ckpt-resume
+LAUNCHER: ft_launcher
diff --git a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp4_pp1_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer_overlap_grad_reduce_param_gather/model_config.yaml b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp4_pp1_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer_overlap_grad_reduce_param_gather/model_config.yaml
index 6cc70da70fc..12acfaf8402 100644
--- a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp4_pp1_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer_overlap_grad_reduce_param_gather/model_config.yaml
+++ b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/gpt/gpt3_mcore_te_tp4_pp1_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer_overlap_grad_reduce_param_gather/model_config.yaml
@@ -57,3 +57,4 @@ MODEL_ARGS:
   --async-strategy: mcore
   --use-persistent-ckpt-worker: true
 TEST_TYPE: ckpt-resume
+LAUNCHER: ft_launcher
diff --git a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_mcore_te_tp1_pp2_resume_torch_dist_reshard_2x1x4_te_8experts2parallel_dist_optimizer/model_config.yaml b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_mcore_te_tp1_pp2_resume_torch_dist_reshard_2x1x4_te_8experts2parallel_dist_optimizer/model_config.yaml
index 329639ad0c9..e885bc255aa 100644
--- a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_mcore_te_tp1_pp2_resume_torch_dist_reshard_2x1x4_te_8experts2parallel_dist_optimizer/model_config.yaml
+++ b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_mcore_te_tp1_pp2_resume_torch_dist_reshard_2x1x4_te_8experts2parallel_dist_optimizer/model_config.yaml
@@ -57,3 +57,4 @@ MODEL_ARGS:
   --no-bias-gelu-fusion: true
   --log-memory-to-tensorboard: true
 TEST_TYPE: ckpt-resume
+LAUNCHER: ft_launcher
diff --git a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_mcore_te_tp2_pp1_resume_torch_dist_te_8experts2parallel_multi_dist_optimizer_instances/model_config.yaml b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_mcore_te_tp2_pp1_resume_torch_dist_te_8experts2parallel_multi_dist_optimizer_instances/model_config.yaml
index 159a7d1f4c2..37224a25cd2 100644
--- a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_mcore_te_tp2_pp1_resume_torch_dist_te_8experts2parallel_multi_dist_optimizer_instances/model_config.yaml
+++ b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_mcore_te_tp2_pp1_resume_torch_dist_te_8experts2parallel_multi_dist_optimizer_instances/model_config.yaml
@@ -63,3 +63,4 @@ MODEL_ARGS:
   --async-save: true
   --use-persistent-ckpt-worker: true
 TEST_TYPE: ckpt-resume
+LAUNCHER: ft_launcher
diff --git a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_moe_mcore_te_tp4_ep2_etp2_pp2_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer/model_config.yaml b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_moe_mcore_te_tp4_ep2_etp2_pp2_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer/model_config.yaml
index 7c292c0fa53..ff52550c238 100644
--- a/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_moe_mcore_te_tp4_ep2_etp2_pp2_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer/model_config.yaml
+++ b/tests/functional_tests/test_cases/moe/gpt3_moe_mcore_te_tp4_ep2_etp2_pp2_resume_torch_dist_dist_optimizer/model_config.yaml
@@ -67,3 +67,4 @@ MODEL_ARGS:
   --async-save: true
   --use-persistent-ckpt-worker: true
 TEST_TYPE: ckpt-resume
+LAUNCHER: ft_launcher