diff --git a/ansible/roles/nova/defaults/main.yml b/ansible/roles/nova/defaults/main.yml
index e4e0f7ca0c..d92a991485 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/nova/defaults/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/nova/defaults/main.yml
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ nova_services:
     group: "compute"
     image: "{{ nova_compute_image_full }}"
     privileged: True
-    enabled: "{{ not enable_nova_fake | bool and not enable_ironic | bool }}"
+    enabled: "{{ True if orchestration_engine == 'KUBERNETES' else not enable_nova_fake | bool and not enable_ironic | bool }}"
     volumes:
       - "{{ node_config_directory }}/nova-compute/:{{ container_config_directory }}/:ro"
       - "/etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro"