diff --git a/designate/db/offline_sync.sls b/designate/db/offline_sync.sls
index fd49a7f..06f2615 100644
--- a/designate/db/offline_sync.sls
+++ b/designate/db/offline_sync.sls
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 designate_syncdb:
   cmd.run:
     - name: designate-manage database sync
+    - runas: designate
     {%- if grains.get('noservices') or server.get('role', 'primary') == 'secondary' %}
     - onlyif: /bin/false
     {%- endif %}
diff --git a/designate/server.sls b/designate/server.sls
index 7d08007..dbdedbc 100644
--- a/designate/server.sls
+++ b/designate/server.sls
@@ -144,6 +144,7 @@
 designate_pool_sync:
   cmd.run:
     - name: designate-manage pool-manager-cache sync
+    - runas: designate
     {%- if grains.get('noservices') %}
     - onlyif: /bin/false
     {%- endif %}
@@ -180,6 +181,7 @@
 designate_pool_update:
   cmd.run:
     - name: "attempts=3; for i in $(seq 1 $attempts); do if designate-manage pool update; then exit 0; else if [[ $i -ge $attempts ]]; then exit 1; else sleep 10; fi; fi; done"
+    - runas: designate
     - shell: /bin/bash
     - require:
       - service: designate_server_services