diff --git a/runtime/v2/shim/shim.go b/runtime/v2/shim/shim.go
index c14aacca99b8f..35144f98efefc 100644
--- a/runtime/v2/shim/shim.go
+++ b/runtime/v2/shim/shim.go
@@ -40,9 +40,9 @@ import (
 
 // Client for a shim server
 type Client struct {
-	service shimapi.TaskService
-	context context.Context
-	signals chan os.Signal
+	service  shimapi.TaskService
+	context  context.Context
+	signals  chan os.Signal
 }
 
 // Publisher for events
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ func run(id string, initFunc Init, config Config) error {
 			"pid":       os.Getpid(),
 			"namespace": namespaceFlag,
 		})
-		go handleSignals(ctx, logger, signals)
+		go reap(ctx, logger, signals)
 		response, err := service.Cleanup(ctx)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -273,15 +273,16 @@ func run(id string, initFunc Init, config Config) error {
 // NewShimClient creates a new shim server client
 func NewShimClient(ctx context.Context, svc shimapi.TaskService, signals chan os.Signal) *Client {
 	s := &Client{
-		service: svc,
-		context: ctx,
-		signals: signals,
+		service:  svc,
+		context:  ctx,
+		signals:  signals,
 	}
 	return s
 }
 
 // Serve the shim server
 func (s *Client) Serve() error {
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(s.context)
 	dump := make(chan os.Signal, 32)
 	setupDumpStacks(dump)
 
@@ -297,7 +298,7 @@ func (s *Client) Serve() error {
 	logrus.Debug("registering ttrpc server")
 	shimapi.RegisterTaskService(server, s.service)
 
-	if err := serve(s.context, server, socketFlag); err != nil {
+	if err := serve(ctx, server, socketFlag); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	logger := logrus.WithFields(logrus.Fields{
@@ -310,7 +311,8 @@ func (s *Client) Serve() error {
 			dumpStacks(logger)
 		}
 	}()
-	return handleSignals(s.context, logger, s.signals)
+	go handleExitSignals(ctx, logger, cancel)
+	return reap(ctx, logger, s.signals)
 }
 
 // serve serves the ttrpc API over a unix socket at the provided path
diff --git a/runtime/v2/shim/shim_unix.go b/runtime/v2/shim/shim_unix.go
index a61b642089217..ce599a501ddd9 100644
--- a/runtime/v2/shim/shim_unix.go
+++ b/runtime/v2/shim/shim_unix.go
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ func serveListener(path string) (net.Listener, error) {
 	return l, nil
 }
 
-func handleSignals(ctx context.Context, logger *logrus.Entry, signals chan os.Signal) error {
+func reap(ctx context.Context, logger *logrus.Entry, signals chan os.Signal) error {
 	logger.Info("starting signal loop")
 
 	for {
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ func handleSignals(ctx context.Context, logger *logrus.Entry, signals chan os.Si
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			return ctx.Err()
 		case s := <-signals:
+			// Exit signals are handled separately from this loop
+			// They get registered with this channel so that we can ignore such signals for short-running actions (e.g. `delete`)
 			switch s {
 			case unix.SIGCHLD:
 				if err := reaper.Reap(); err != nil {
@@ -89,6 +91,22 @@ func handleSignals(ctx context.Context, logger *logrus.Entry, signals chan os.Si
 	}
 }
 
+func handleExitSignals(ctx context.Context, logger *logrus.Entry, cancel context.CancelFunc) {
+	ch := make(chan os.Signal, 32)
+	signal.Notify(ch, syscall.SIGINT, syscall.SIGTERM)
+
+	for {
+		select {
+		case s := <-ch:
+			logger.WithField("signal", s).Debugf("Caught exit signal")
+			cancel()
+			return
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func openLog(ctx context.Context, _ string) (io.Writer, error) {
 	return fifo.OpenFifoDup2(ctx, "log", unix.O_WRONLY, 0700, int(os.Stderr.Fd()))
 }
diff --git a/runtime/v2/shim/shim_windows.go b/runtime/v2/shim/shim_windows.go
index 7339eb2a2e4c2..955e2aecabe4d 100644
--- a/runtime/v2/shim/shim_windows.go
+++ b/runtime/v2/shim/shim_windows.go
@@ -48,10 +48,13 @@ func serveListener(path string) (net.Listener, error) {
 	return nil, errors.New("not supported")
 }
 
-func handleSignals(ctx context.Context, logger *logrus.Entry, signals chan os.Signal) error {
+func reap(ctx context.Context, logger *logrus.Entry, signals chan os.Signal) error {
 	return errors.New("not supported")
 }
 
+func handleExitSignals(ctx context.Context, logger *logrus.Entry, cancel context.CancelFunc) {
+}
+
 func openLog(ctx context.Context, _ string) (io.Writer, error) {
 	return nil, errors.New("not supported")
 }