diff --git a/cumulus/polkadot-omni-node/lib/src/nodes/aura.rs b/cumulus/polkadot-omni-node/lib/src/nodes/aura.rs
index ae3c35a34372f..138846f0fe721 100644
--- a/cumulus/polkadot-omni-node/lib/src/nodes/aura.rs
+++ b/cumulus/polkadot-omni-node/lib/src/nodes/aura.rs
@@ -673,9 +673,7 @@ where
 			// piece of code.
 			Self::launch_slot_based_collator(params);
 		};
-		task_manager
-			.spawn_essential_handle()
-			.spawn("slot-based-collator-init", None, fut);
+		task_manager.spawn_handle().spawn("slot-based-collator-init", None, fut);
 
 		Ok(())
 	}
diff --git a/prdoc/pr_11628.prdoc b/prdoc/pr_11628.prdoc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..bdb4101eadf54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/prdoc/pr_11628.prdoc
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+title: 'fix: slot-based collator node exits immediately on startup'
+doc:
+- audience: Node Dev
+  description: |-
+    Regression from #11381: the `wait_for_aura` init wrapper was spawned as an essential task, but it
+    completes immediately after spawning the actual long-running collator tasks, causing the node to
+    shut down. Use `spawn_handle()` instead. Only affects `--authoring=slot-based` collators.
+crates:
+- name: polkadot-omni-node-lib
+  bump: patch