diff --git a/packages/kbn-lock-manager/src/lock_manager_client.ts b/packages/kbn-lock-manager/src/lock_manager_client.ts
index 350711cad4268..74b9129ffdbfc 100644
--- a/packages/kbn-lock-manager/src/lock_manager_client.ts
+++ b/packages/kbn-lock-manager/src/lock_manager_client.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import { errors } from '@elastic/elasticsearch';
 import { Logger } from '@kbn/logging';
 import { v4 as uuid } from 'uuid';
 import prettyMilliseconds from 'pretty-ms';
-import { once } from 'lodash';
 import { duration } from 'moment';
 import { ElasticsearchClient } from '@kbn/core/server';
 import { LOCKS_CONCRETE_INDEX_NAME, setupLockManagerIndex } from './setup_lock_manager_index';
@@ -39,10 +38,21 @@ export interface AcquireOptions {
 }
 
 // The index assets should only be set up once
+let runLockManagerSetupSuccessfully = false;
+export const runSetupIndexAssetOnce = async (
+  esClient: ElasticsearchClient,
+  logger: Logger
+): Promise<void> => {
+  if (runLockManagerSetupSuccessfully) {
+    return;
+  }
+  await setupLockManagerIndex(esClient, logger);
+  runLockManagerSetupSuccessfully = true;
+};
+
 // For testing purposes, we need to be able to set it up every time
-let runSetupIndexAssetOnce = once(setupLockManagerIndex);
-export function runSetupIndexAssetEveryTime() {
-  runSetupIndexAssetOnce = setupLockManagerIndex;
+export function rerunSetupIndexAsset() {
+  runLockManagerSetupSuccessfully = false;
 }
 
 export class LockManager {
diff --git a/x-pack/solutions/observability/test/api_integration_deployment_agnostic/apis/ai_assistant/distributed_lock_manager/distributed_lock_manager.spec.ts b/x-pack/solutions/observability/test/api_integration_deployment_agnostic/apis/ai_assistant/distributed_lock_manager/distributed_lock_manager.spec.ts
index b61c10a026c23..4cf29dc6730f5 100644
--- a/x-pack/solutions/observability/test/api_integration_deployment_agnostic/apis/ai_assistant/distributed_lock_manager/distributed_lock_manager.spec.ts
+++ b/x-pack/solutions/observability/test/api_integration_deployment_agnostic/apis/ai_assistant/distributed_lock_manager/distributed_lock_manager.spec.ts
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import {
   LockManager,
   LockDocument,
   withLock,
-  runSetupIndexAssetEveryTime,
+  rerunSetupIndexAsset,
 } from '@kbn/lock-manager/src/lock_manager_client';
 import {
   LOCKS_COMPONENT_TEMPLATE_NAME,
@@ -42,9 +42,11 @@ export default function ApiTest({ getService }: DeploymentAgnosticFtrProviderCon
     before(async () => {
       // delete existing index mappings to ensure we start from a clean state
       await deleteLockIndexAssets(es, log);
+    });
 
+    beforeEach(async () => {
       // ensure that the index and templates are created
-      runSetupIndexAssetEveryTime();
+      rerunSetupIndexAsset();
     });
 
     after(async () => {
@@ -804,6 +806,38 @@ export default function ApiTest({ getService }: DeploymentAgnosticFtrProviderCon
         });
       });
     });
+
+    describe('setup robustness', () => {
+      it('should retry if setup fails the first time', async () => {
+        const brokenEsClient = {
+          ...es,
+          cluster: {
+            ...es.cluster,
+            putComponentTemplate: () => {
+              throw new Error('Simulated failure on first attempt');
+            },
+          },
+        } as unknown as Client;
+        const brokenLockManager = new LockManager('test', brokenEsClient, logger);
+        const workingLockManager = new LockManager('test', es, logger);
+        let error;
+        try {
+          await brokenLockManager.acquire();
+        } catch (e) {
+          error = e;
+        }
+        expect(error).to.be.an(Error);
+
+        // if the the second attempt succeeds, it means it didn't get stuck on the first failure
+        error = undefined;
+        try {
+          await workingLockManager.acquire();
+        } catch (e) {
+          error = e;
+        }
+        expect(error).to.be(undefined);
+      });
+    });
   });
 }