diff --git a/extras/startup-scripts/patroni.service b/extras/startup-scripts/patroni.service
index fdd7558b..820e64c8 100644
--- a/extras/startup-scripts/patroni.service
+++ b/extras/startup-scripts/patroni.service
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ Group=postgres
 
 ExecStart=/bin/patroni /etc/patroni.yml
 
+# only kill the patroni process, not it's children, so it will gracefully stop postgres
+KillMode=process
+
 # Give a reasonable amount of time for the server to start up/shut down
 TimeoutSec=10