diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 75f14790..fa4c53d1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ dependencies = [
     "typing_extensions ~= 4.8",
     "psutil ~= 5.9",
     "pydantic ~= 1.10.0",
+    "requests == 2.31.*",
 ]
 requires-python = ">=3.7"
 
diff --git a/src/deadline_worker_agent/installer/__init__.py b/src/deadline_worker_agent/installer/__init__.py
index e0be2d93..5fea8523 100644
--- a/src/deadline_worker_agent/installer/__init__.py
+++ b/src/deadline_worker_agent/installer/__init__.py
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 from argparse import ArgumentParser, Namespace
 from pathlib import Path
 from subprocess import CalledProcessError, run
+import re
+import requests
 import sys
 import sysconfig
 
@@ -18,6 +20,45 @@
 }
 
 
+def _get_ec2_region() -> Optional[str]:
+    """
+    Gets the AWS region if running on EC2 by querying IMDS.
+    Returns None if region could not be detected.
+    """
+    try:
+        # Create IMDSv2 token
+        token_response = requests.put(
+            url="http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token",
+            headers={"X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds": "10"},  # 10 second expiry
+        )
+        token = token_response.text
+        if not token:
+            raise RuntimeError("Received empty IMDSv2 token")
+
+        # Get AZ
+        az_response = requests.get(
+            url="http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/placement/availability-zone",
+            headers={"X-aws-ec2-metadata-token": token},
+        )
+        az = az_response.text
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"Failed to detect AWS region: {e}")
+        return None
+    else:
+        if not az:
+            print("AWS region could not be detected, received empty response from IMDS")
+            return None
+
+        match = re.match(r"^([a-z-]+-[0-9])([a-z])?$", az)
+        if not match:
+            print(
+                f"AWS region could not be detected, got unexpected availability zone from IMDS: {az}"
+            )
+            return None
+
+        return match.group(1)
+
+
 def install() -> None:
     """Installer entrypoint for the AWS Deadline Cloud Worker Agent"""
 
@@ -28,6 +69,13 @@ def install() -> None:
     arg_parser = get_argument_parser()
     args = arg_parser.parse_args(namespace=ParsedCommandLineArguments)
     scripts_path = Path(sysconfig.get_path("scripts"))
+
+    if args.region is None:
+        args.region = _get_ec2_region()
+        if args.region is None:
+            print("ERROR: Unable to detect AWS region. Please provide a value for --region.")
+            sys.exit(1)
+
     if sys.platform == "win32":
         installer_args: dict[str, Any] = dict(
             farm_id=args.farm_id,
@@ -94,7 +142,7 @@ class ParsedCommandLineArguments(Namespace):
 
     farm_id: str
     fleet_id: str
-    region: str
+    region: Optional[str] = None
     user: str
     password: Optional[str] = None
     group: Optional[str] = None
@@ -126,8 +174,11 @@ def get_argument_parser() -> ArgumentParser:  # pragma: no cover
     )
     parser.add_argument(
         "--region",
-        help='The AWS region of the AWS Deadline Cloud farm. Defaults to "us-west-2".',
-        default="us-west-2",
+        help=(
+            "The AWS region of the AWS Deadline Cloud farm. "
+            "If on EC2, this is optional and the region will be automatically detected. Otherwise, this option is required."
+        ),
+        default=None,
     )
 
     # Windows local usernames are restricted to 20 characters in length.
diff --git a/src/deadline_worker_agent/installer/install.sh b/src/deadline_worker_agent/installer/install.sh
index fe62d8c0..db6f9e07 100755
--- a/src/deadline_worker_agent/installer/install.sh
+++ b/src/deadline_worker_agent/installer/install.sh
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ farm_id=unset
 fleet_id=unset
 wa_user=$default_wa_user
 confirm=""
-region="us-west-2"
+region="unset"
 scripts_path="unset"
 worker_agent_program="deadline-worker-agent"
 client_library_program="deadline"
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ usage()
     echo "    --fleet-id FLEET_ID"
     echo "        The AWS Deadline Cloud Fleet ID that the Worker belongs to."
     echo "    --region REGION"
-    echo "        The AWS region of the AWS Deadline Cloud farm. Defaults to $region."
+    echo "        The AWS region of the AWS Deadline Cloud farm."
     echo "    --user USER"
     echo "        A user name that the AWS Deadline Cloud Worker Agent will run as. Defaults to $default_wa_user."
     echo "    --group GROUP"
@@ -197,7 +197,11 @@ else
     set -e
 fi
 
-if [[ ! -z "${region}" ]] && [[ ! "${region}" =~ ^[a-z]+-[a-z]+-[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+if [[ "${region}" == "unset" ]]; then
+    echo "ERROR: --region not specified"
+    usage
+fi
+if [[ ! "${region}" =~ ^[a-z]+-[a-z]+-([a-z]+-)?[0-9]+$ ]]; then
     echo "ERROR: Not a valid value for --region: ${region}"
     usage
 fi
diff --git a/test/unit/install/test_install.py b/test/unit/install/test_install.py
index 2eac08b7..51a241f5 100644
--- a/test/unit/install/test_install.py
+++ b/test/unit/install/test_install.py
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 from typing import Generator
 from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
 import sysconfig
+import typing
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -49,6 +50,7 @@ def expected_cmd(
     parsed_args: ParsedCommandLineArguments,
     platform: str,
 ) -> list[str]:
+    assert parsed_args.region is not None, "Region is required"
     expected_cmd = [
         "sudo",
         str(installer_mod.INSTALLER_PATH[platform]),
@@ -212,3 +214,119 @@ def test_unsupported_platform_raises(platform: str, capsys: pytest.CaptureFixtur
     capture = capsys.readouterr()
 
     assert capture.out == f"ERROR: Unsupported platform {platform}\n"
+
+
+class TestGetEc2Region:
+    """Tests for _get_ec2_region function"""
+
+    @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+    def mock_requests_get(self) -> Generator[MagicMock, None, None]:
+        with patch.object(installer_mod.requests, "get") as m:
+            yield m
+
+    @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+    def mock_requests_put(self) -> Generator[MagicMock, None, None]:
+        with patch.object(installer_mod.requests, "put") as m:
+            yield m
+
+    def test_gets_ec2_region(self, mock_requests_get: MagicMock, mock_requests_put: MagicMock):
+        # GIVEN
+        region = "us-east-2"
+        az = f"{region}a"
+
+        mock_requests_get.return_value.text = az
+
+        # WHEN
+        actual = installer_mod._get_ec2_region()
+
+        # THEN
+        assert actual == region
+        mock_requests_put.assert_called_once_with(
+            url="http://169.254.169.254/latest/api/token",
+            headers={"X-aws-ec2-metadata-token-ttl-seconds": "10"},
+        )
+        mock_requests_get.assert_called_once_with(
+            url="http://169.254.169.254/latest/meta-data/placement/availability-zone",
+            headers={"X-aws-ec2-metadata-token": mock_requests_put.return_value.text},
+        )
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize(
+        ["put_side_effect", "get_side_effect"],
+        [
+            [Exception(), None],  # token request fails
+            [None, Exception()],  # az request fails
+        ],
+    )
+    def test_fails_if_request_raises(
+        self,
+        put_side_effect: typing.Optional[Exception],
+        get_side_effect: typing.Optional[Exception],
+        mock_requests_put: MagicMock,
+        mock_requests_get: MagicMock,
+        capfd: pytest.CaptureFixture,
+    ):
+        # GIVEN
+        if put_side_effect:
+            mock_requests_put.side_effect = put_side_effect
+        if get_side_effect:
+            mock_requests_get.side_effect = get_side_effect
+
+        # WHEN
+        retval = installer_mod._get_ec2_region()
+
+        # THEN
+        assert retval is None
+        out, _ = capfd.readouterr()
+        assert "Failed to detect AWS region: " in out
+
+    def test_raises_if_empty_token_received(
+        self,
+        mock_requests_put: MagicMock,
+        capfd: pytest.CaptureFixture,
+    ):
+        # GIVEN
+        mock_requests_put.return_value.text = None
+
+        # WHEN
+        retval = installer_mod._get_ec2_region()
+
+        # THEN
+        assert retval is None
+        out, _ = capfd.readouterr()
+        assert "Failed to detect AWS region: Received empty IMDSv2 token" in out
+
+    def test_fails_if_empty_az_received(
+        self,
+        mock_requests_get: MagicMock,
+        capfd: pytest.CaptureFixture,
+    ):
+        # GIVEN
+        mock_requests_get.return_value.text = ""
+
+        # WHEN
+        retval = installer_mod._get_ec2_region()
+
+        # THEN
+        assert retval is None
+        out, _ = capfd.readouterr()
+        assert "AWS region could not be detected, received empty response from IMDS" in out
+
+    def test_fails_if_nonvalid_az_received(
+        self,
+        mock_requests_get: MagicMock,
+        capfd: pytest.CaptureFixture,
+    ):
+        # GIVEN
+        az = "Not-A-Region-Code-123"
+        mock_requests_get.return_value.text = az
+
+        # WHEN
+        retval = installer_mod._get_ec2_region()
+
+        # THEN
+        assert retval is None
+        out, _ = capfd.readouterr()
+        assert (
+            f"AWS region could not be detected, got unexpected availability zone from IMDS: {az}"
+            in out
+        )
diff --git a/test/unit/install/test_windows_installer.py b/test/unit/install/test_windows_installer.py
index 495c1326..ced0f19d 100644
--- a/test/unit/install/test_windows_installer.py
+++ b/test/unit/install/test_windows_installer.py
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ def test_start_windows_installer_fails_when_run_as_non_admin_user(
 ) -> None:
     # GIVEN
     is_user_an_admin.return_value = False
+    assert parsed_args.region is not None, "Region is required"
 
     with (patch.object(installer_mod, "get_argument_parser") as mock_get_arg_parser,):
         with pytest.raises(SystemExit):