diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index 4f8ad4deddbe..7a0f8d91e93f 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v8.8.1\...main[Check the HEAD diff]
 - Fix long filepaths in diagnostics exceeding max path limits on Windows. {pull}40909[40909]
 - Add backup and delete for AWS S3 polling mode feature back. {pull}41071[41071]
 - Fix a bug in Salesforce input to only handle responses with 200 status code {pull}41015[41015]
-
+- Fixed failed job handling and removed false-positive error logs in the GCS input. {pull}41142[41142]
 
 *Heartbeat*
 
diff --git a/x-pack/filebeat/input/gcs/scheduler.go b/x-pack/filebeat/input/gcs/scheduler.go
index 45e7585c14ef..ef1bebd083d9 100644
--- a/x-pack/filebeat/input/gcs/scheduler.go
+++ b/x-pack/filebeat/input/gcs/scheduler.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ package gcs
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"slices"
 	"sort"
@@ -212,7 +213,16 @@ func (s *scheduler) addFailedJobs(ctx context.Context, jobs []*job) []*job {
 		if !jobMap[name] {
 			obj, err := s.bucket.Object(name).Attrs(ctx)
 			if err != nil {
-				s.log.Errorf("adding failed job %s to job list caused an error: %v", name, err)
+				if errors.Is(err, storage.ErrObjectNotExist) {
+					// if the object is not found in the bucket, then remove it from the failed job list
+					s.state.deleteFailedJob(name)
+					s.log.Debugf("scheduler: failed job %s not found in bucket %s", name, s.src.BucketName)
+				} else {
+					// if there is an error while validating the object,
+					// then update the failed job retry count and work towards natural removal
+					s.state.updateFailedJobs(name)
+					s.log.Errorf("scheduler: adding failed job %s to job list caused an error: %v", name, err)
+				}
 				continue
 			}
 
diff --git a/x-pack/filebeat/input/gcs/state.go b/x-pack/filebeat/input/gcs/state.go
index 59f79fce471c..ea04edcae908 100644
--- a/x-pack/filebeat/input/gcs/state.go
+++ b/x-pack/filebeat/input/gcs/state.go
@@ -79,6 +79,14 @@ func (s *state) updateFailedJobs(jobName string) {
 	s.mu.Unlock()
 }
 
+// deleteFailedJob, deletes a failed job from the failedJobs map
+// this is used when a job no longer exists in the bucket or gets expired
+func (s *state) deleteFailedJob(jobName string) {
+	s.mu.Lock()
+	delete(s.cp.FailedJobs, jobName)
+	s.mu.Unlock()
+}
+
 // setCheckpoint, sets checkpoint from source to current state instance
 // If for some reason the current state is empty, assigns new states as
 // a fail safe mechanism