diff --git a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry.ts b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry.ts
index 614f57064512c..c1dc9fd91d959 100644
--- a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry.ts
+++ b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry.ts
@@ -12,8 +12,13 @@ import { retryForSuccess } from './retry_for_success';
 import { retryForTruthy } from './retry_for_truthy';
 
 export interface TryWithRetriesOptions {
+  // The initial delay before the first attempt
+  initialDelay?: number;
+  // The number of retry attempts
   retryCount: number;
+  // The delay between retry attempts
   retryDelay?: number;
+  // The timeout for the retry attempts
   timeout?: number;
 }
 
@@ -108,7 +113,12 @@ export class RetryService extends FtrService {
     options: TryWithRetriesOptions,
     onFailureBlock?: () => Promise<T>
   ): Promise<T> {
-    const { retryCount, timeout = this.config.get('timeouts.try'), retryDelay = 200 } = options;
+    const {
+      retryCount,
+      timeout = this.config.get('timeouts.try'),
+      retryDelay = 200,
+      initialDelay,
+    } = options;
 
     return await retryForSuccess<T>(this.log, {
       description,
@@ -118,6 +128,7 @@ export class RetryService extends FtrService {
       onFailureBlock,
       retryDelay,
       retryCount,
+      initialDelay,
     });
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry_for_success.test.ts b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry_for_success.test.ts
index 4ad240663d5a8..bcc12644411a7 100644
--- a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry_for_success.test.ts
+++ b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry_for_success.test.ts
@@ -7,10 +7,11 @@
  * License v3.0 only", or the "Server Side Public License, v 1".
  */
 
-import { retryForSuccess } from './retry_for_success';
+import * as retryForSuccessModule from './retry_for_success';
 import { ToolingLog, ToolingLogCollectingWriter } from '@kbn/tooling-log';
 
 describe('Retry for success', () => {
+  const { retryForSuccess } = retryForSuccessModule;
   it(`should print out attempt counts with the retryCount parameter`, async () => {
     const retryCount = 3;
     const log = new ToolingLog();
@@ -67,4 +68,20 @@ describe('Retry for success', () => {
       ]
     `);
   });
+  it.skip('should call delay with initialDelay if initialDelay is provided', async () => {
+    const delaySpy = jest.spyOn(retryForSuccessModule, 'delay').mockResolvedValue(undefined);
+    const log = new ToolingLog();
+    const block = async () => 42;
+    const initialDelay = 1234;
+
+    await retryForSuccessModule.retryForSuccess(log, {
+      block,
+      timeout: 2000,
+      methodName: 'retryForSuccess initialDelay test',
+      initialDelay,
+    });
+
+    expect(delaySpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(initialDelay);
+    delaySpy.mockRestore();
+  });
 });
diff --git a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry_for_success.ts b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry_for_success.ts
index f44e2618190fc..f5386b0933607 100644
--- a/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry_for_success.ts
+++ b/src/platform/packages/shared/kbn-ftr-common-functional-services/services/retry/retry_for_success.ts
@@ -10,9 +10,8 @@
 import { ToolingLog } from '@kbn/tooling-log';
 import { inspect } from 'util';
 
-const delay = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
-
 const returnTrue = () => true;
+export const delay = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
 
 const defaultOnFailure = (methodName: string) => (lastError: Error | undefined, reason: string) => {
   throw new Error(
@@ -48,6 +47,7 @@ interface Options<T> {
   description?: string;
   retryDelay?: number;
   retryCount?: number;
+  initialDelay?: number;
 }
 
 export async function retryForSuccess<T>(log: ToolingLog, options: Options<T>) {
@@ -61,8 +61,13 @@ export async function retryForSuccess<T>(log: ToolingLog, options: Options<T>) {
     accept = returnTrue,
     retryDelay = 502,
     retryCount,
+    initialDelay,
   } = options;
 
+  if (typeof initialDelay === 'number') {
+    await delay(initialDelay);
+  }
+
   const start = Date.now();
   const criticalWebDriverErrors = ['NoSuchSessionError', 'NoSuchWindowError'];
   let lastError;
diff --git a/test/api_integration/apis/ui_counters/ui_counters.ts b/test/api_integration/apis/ui_counters/ui_counters.ts
index 1f8823d94eebc..8578ae4e0690c 100644
--- a/test/api_integration/apis/ui_counters/ui_counters.ts
+++ b/test/api_integration/apis/ui_counters/ui_counters.ts
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@ import { FtrProviderContext } from '../../ftr_provider_context';
 
 const APP_NAME = 'myApp';
 
-const delay = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
-
 export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
   const supertest = getService('supertest');
   const esArchiver = getService('esArchiver');
@@ -94,7 +92,6 @@ export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
 
       await sendReport(report);
       // Wait for the report to be query-able in ES since sending report uses (refresh = false)
-      await delay(3000);
       await retry.tryWithRetries(
         'reported events to be stored into ES',
         async () => {
@@ -106,7 +103,7 @@ export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
           expect(countTypeEvents[0].attributes.count).to.eql(1);
           return true;
         },
-        { retryCount: 6, retryDelay: 1500 }
+        { retryCount: 6, retryDelay: 1500, initialDelay: 3000 }
       );
     });
 
@@ -124,7 +121,6 @@ export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
 
       await sendReport(report);
       // Wait for the report to be query-able in ES since sending report uses (refresh = false)
-      await delay(3000);
       await retry.tryWithRetries(
         'reported events to be stored into ES',
         async () => {
@@ -154,7 +150,7 @@ export default function ({ getService }: FtrProviderContext) {
           expect(secondEventWithCountTypeEvents[0].attributes.count).to.eql(1);
           return true;
         },
-        { retryCount: 6, retryDelay: 1500 }
+        { retryCount: 6, retryDelay: 1500, initialDelay: 3000 }
       );
     });
   });