diff --git a/common/global_policy.go b/common/global_policy.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..07e7d02
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/global_policy.go
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+package common
+
+import "time"
+
+type Policy struct {
+	// MuxManagerStartDelay is how long the MuxManager's Start() waits for the
+	// underlying MuxProvider to publish initial connections before returning.
+	// A value of 0 tells Start() to skip the wait entirely.
+	MuxManagerStartDelay time.Duration
+}
+
+func (p *Policy) UpdateMuxManagerStartDelay(d time.Duration) {
+	p.MuxManagerStartDelay = d
+}
+
+// GlobalPolicy is the process-wide policy singleton.
+var GlobalPolicy = &Policy{
+	MuxManagerStartDelay: time.Minute,
+}
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index edf64c1..f741894 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ package config
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v3"
@@ -48,8 +50,18 @@ type (
 		Logging            LoggingConfig            `yaml:"logging"`
 		LogConfigs         map[string]LoggingConfig `yaml:"logConfigs"`
 		ClusterConnections []ClusterConnConfig      `yaml:"clusterConnections"`
+		// MuxManagerStartDelay overrides the time the mux manager waits for
+		// initial connections before serving. Accepts Go duration strings
+		// (e.g. "30s", "1m", or "0s" to skip the wait entirely). When the
+		// field is omitted, the in-process default (time.Minute) is used.
+		MuxManagerStartDelay *Duration `yaml:"muxManagerStartDelay,omitempty"`
 	}
 
+	// Duration is a time.Duration that unmarshals from YAML duration strings
+	// (e.g. "30s", "1m500ms") rather than the integer-nanoseconds form yaml.v3
+	// would otherwise produce.
+	Duration time.Duration
+
 	SATranslationConfig struct {
 		NamespaceMappings []SANamespaceMapping `yaml:"namespaceMappings"`
 		cachedBiMap       SearchAttributeTranslation
@@ -201,6 +213,25 @@ func (c *ProfilingConfig) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error
 	return unmarshal((*plain)(c))
 }
 
+func (d *Duration) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
+	var s string
+	if err := unmarshal(&s); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if s == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	parsed, err := time.ParseDuration(s)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid duration %q: %w", s, err)
+	}
+	*d = Duration(parsed)
+	return nil
+}
+
+// AsDuration returns the value as a standard time.Duration.
+func (d Duration) AsDuration() time.Duration { return time.Duration(d) }
+
 func (s *SATranslationConfig) IsEnabled() bool {
 	return len(s.NamespaceMappings) > 0
 }
diff --git a/config/config_test.go b/config/config_test.go
index 8433e85..4c33275 100644
--- a/config/config_test.go
+++ b/config/config_test.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
@@ -135,3 +136,59 @@ func TestExampleChart(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, ConnectionType("mux-client"), cc.Remote.ConnectionType)
 	require.Equal(t, "s2s-proxy-sample.example.tmprl.cloud:8233", cc.Remote.MuxAddressInfo.ConnectionString)
 }
+
+func TestDurationUnmarshalYAML(t *testing.T) {
+	type wrapper struct {
+		Delay Duration `yaml:"delay"`
+	}
+	cases := []struct {
+		name      string
+		yamlInput string
+		want      time.Duration
+		wantErr   string
+	}{
+		{name: "seconds", yamlInput: `delay: "30s"`, want: 30 * time.Second},
+		{name: "minutes", yamlInput: `delay: "1m"`, want: time.Minute},
+		{name: "mixed_units", yamlInput: `delay: "1m500ms"`, want: time.Minute + 500*time.Millisecond},
+		{name: "explicit_zero", yamlInput: `delay: "0s"`, want: 0},
+		{name: "explicit_zero_unitless", yamlInput: `delay: "0"`, want: 0},
+		{name: "empty_string", yamlInput: `delay: ""`, want: 0},
+		{name: "absent_field", yamlInput: `{}`, want: 0},
+		{name: "invalid_format", yamlInput: `delay: "not-a-duration"`, wantErr: `invalid duration "not-a-duration"`},
+		{name: "missing_unit_quoted", yamlInput: `delay: "30"`, wantErr: `invalid duration "30"`},
+		// yaml.v3 coerces a bare integer scalar to a string when our UnmarshalYAML
+		// asks for one, so a unitless int hits the same "missing unit" path.
+		{name: "missing_unit_int", yamlInput: `delay: 30`, wantErr: `invalid duration "30"`},
+	}
+
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var w wrapper
+			err := yaml.Unmarshal([]byte(c.yamlInput), &w)
+			if c.wantErr != "" {
+				require.Error(t, err)
+				require.Contains(t, err.Error(), c.wantErr)
+				return
+			}
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			require.Equal(t, c.want, time.Duration(w.Delay))
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func TestDurationAsDuration(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name string
+		in   Duration
+		want time.Duration
+	}{
+		{name: "zero", in: 0, want: 0},
+		{name: "positive", in: Duration(2*time.Minute + 30*time.Second), want: 2*time.Minute + 30*time.Second},
+		{name: "negative", in: Duration(-500 * time.Millisecond), want: -500 * time.Millisecond},
+	}
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			require.Equal(t, c.want, c.in.AsDuration())
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/develop/config/cluster-b-mux-server-proxy.yaml b/develop/config/cluster-b-mux-server-proxy.yaml
index 6da2885..9cb2f68 100644
--- a/develop/config/cluster-b-mux-server-proxy.yaml
+++ b/develop/config/cluster-b-mux-server-proxy.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+muxManagerStartDelay: "0s"
 clusterConnections:
   - name: "b-inbound-server/b-outbound-server"
     local:
diff --git a/proxy/cluster_connection_test.go b/proxy/cluster_connection_test.go
index 8eeb640..0fcf407 100644
--- a/proxy/cluster_connection_test.go
+++ b/proxy/cluster_connection_test.go
@@ -14,12 +14,12 @@ import (
 	"go.temporal.io/server/common/log/tag"
 	"google.golang.org/grpc"
 
+	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/common"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/config"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/endtoendtest/testservices"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/logging"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/metrics"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/transport/grpcutil"
-	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/transport/mux"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ const (
 
 func init() {
 	_ = os.Setenv("TEMPORAL_TEST_LOG_LEVEL", "error")
-	mux.MuxManagerStartDelay = 0
+	common.GlobalPolicy.MuxManagerStartDelay = 0
 }
 
 func getDynamicPorts(t *testing.T, num int) []string {
diff --git a/proxy/proxy.go b/proxy/proxy.go
index af9e736..95af0c7 100644
--- a/proxy/proxy.go
+++ b/proxy/proxy.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 
 	"go.temporal.io/server/common/log/tag"
 
+	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/common"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/config"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/logging"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/metrics"
@@ -39,6 +40,9 @@ type (
 
 func NewProxy(configProvider config.ConfigProvider, logProvider logging.LoggerProvider) *Proxy {
 	s2sConfig := configProvider.GetS2SProxyConfig()
+	if s2sConfig.MuxManagerStartDelay != nil {
+		common.GlobalPolicy.UpdateMuxManagerStartDelay(s2sConfig.MuxManagerStartDelay.AsDuration())
+	}
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(context.Background())
 	proxy := &Proxy{
 		lifetime:           ctx,
diff --git a/proxy/test/echo_proxy_test.go b/proxy/test/echo_proxy_test.go
index e52a5e2..8fd7ea0 100644
--- a/proxy/test/echo_proxy_test.go
+++ b/proxy/test/echo_proxy_test.go
@@ -14,16 +14,16 @@ import (
 	"go.temporal.io/server/client/history"
 	"go.temporal.io/server/common/log"
 
+	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/common"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/config"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/encryption"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/endtoendtest"
-	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/transport/mux"
 )
 
 func init() {
 	// silence info log spam
 	_ = os.Setenv("TEMPORAL_TEST_LOG_LEVEL", "error")
-	mux.MuxManagerStartDelay = 0
+	common.GlobalPolicy.MuxManagerStartDelay = 0
 }
 
 var (
diff --git a/transport/mux/grpc_mux_test.go b/transport/mux/grpc_mux_test.go
index 085467b..3c1a538 100644
--- a/transport/mux/grpc_mux_test.go
+++ b/transport/mux/grpc_mux_test.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import (
 )
 
 func init() {
-	MuxManagerStartDelay = 0
+	common.GlobalPolicy.MuxManagerStartDelay = 0
 }
 
 func TestGRPCMux(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/transport/mux/multi_mux_manager.go b/transport/mux/multi_mux_manager.go
index 8c9312e..01c264e 100644
--- a/transport/mux/multi_mux_manager.go
+++ b/transport/mux/multi_mux_manager.go
@@ -14,12 +14,11 @@ import (
 	"go.temporal.io/server/common/log"
 	"go.temporal.io/server/common/log/tag"
 
+	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/common"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/metrics"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/transport/mux/session"
 )
 
-var MuxManagerStartDelay = time.Minute
-
 type (
 	multiMuxManager struct {
 		lifetime            context.Context
@@ -172,8 +171,11 @@ func (m *multiMuxManager) Start() {
 					tag.Name(m.name), tag.NewStringTag("sessions", sb.String()))
 			}
 		}()
-		// Allow the mux provider some time to provide connections
-		<-time.After(MuxManagerStartDelay)
+		// Allow the mux provider some time to provide connections.
+		// A MuxManagerStartDelay of 0 means skip the wait entirely.
+		if common.GlobalPolicy.MuxManagerStartDelay > 0 {
+			<-time.After(common.GlobalPolicy.MuxManagerStartDelay)
+		}
 	})
 }
 func (m *multiMuxManager) Describe() string {
diff --git a/transport/mux/multi_mux_manager_test.go b/transport/mux/multi_mux_manager_test.go
index 391ceac..8b79e6a 100644
--- a/transport/mux/multi_mux_manager_test.go
+++ b/transport/mux/multi_mux_manager_test.go
@@ -11,13 +11,14 @@ import (
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 	"go.temporal.io/server/common/log"
 
+	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/common"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/endtoendtest/proxyassert"
 	"github.com/temporalio/s2s-proxy/transport/mux/session"
 )
 
 func init() {
 	_ = os.Setenv("TEMPORAL_TEST_LOG_LEVEL", "error")
-	MuxManagerStartDelay = 0
+	common.GlobalPolicy.MuxManagerStartDelay = 0
 }
 
 func TestMultiMuxManager(t *testing.T) {