diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachprod/flags.go b/pkg/cmd/roachprod/flags.go
index 09319c6bd66e..8cb9db876ef2 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachprod/flags.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachprod/flags.go
@@ -189,6 +189,13 @@ func initFlags() {
 		"skip-init", startOpts.SkipInit, "skip initializing the cluster")
 	startCmd.Flags().IntVar(&startOpts.StoreCount,
 		"store-count", startOpts.StoreCount, "number of stores to start each node with")
+	startCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&startOpts.ScheduleBackups,
+		"schedule-backups", startOpts.ScheduleBackups,
+		"create a cluster backup schedule once the cluster has started (by default, "+
+			"full backup hourly and incremental every 15 minutes)")
+	startCmd.Flags().StringVar(&startOpts.ScheduleBackupArgs, "schedule-backup-args", "",
+		`Recurrence and scheduled backup options specification. 
+Default is "RECURRING '*/15 * * * *' FULL BACKUP '@hourly' WITH SCHEDULE OPTIONS first_run = 'now'"`)
 
 	startTenantCmd.Flags().StringVarP(&hostCluster,
 		"host-cluster", "H", "", "host cluster")
diff --git a/pkg/roachprod/install/cockroach.go b/pkg/roachprod/install/cockroach.go
index 5852d7495ebe..5be1ce3835e9 100644
--- a/pkg/roachprod/install/cockroach.go
+++ b/pkg/roachprod/install/cockroach.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachprod/config"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachprod/logger"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/roachprod/ssh"
+	"github.com/cockroachdb/cockroach/pkg/util/timeutil"
 	"github.com/cockroachdb/errors"
 )
 
@@ -87,6 +88,10 @@ type StartOpts struct {
 	Sequential bool
 	ExtraArgs  []string
 
+	// ScheduleBackups starts a backup schedule once the cluster starts
+	ScheduleBackups    bool
+	ScheduleBackupArgs string
+
 	// systemd limits on resources.
 	NumFilesLimit int64
 
@@ -152,7 +157,7 @@ func (c *SyncedCluster) Start(ctx context.Context, l *logger.Logger, startOpts S
 	}
 
 	l.Printf("%s: starting nodes", c.Name)
-	return c.Parallel(l, "", len(nodes), parallelism, func(nodeIdx int) ([]byte, error) {
+	if err := c.Parallel(l, "", len(nodes), parallelism, func(nodeIdx int) ([]byte, error) {
 		node := nodes[nodeIdx]
 
 		// NB: if cockroach started successfully, we ignore the output as it is
@@ -193,7 +198,13 @@ func (c *SyncedCluster) Start(ctx context.Context, l *logger.Logger, startOpts S
 			return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to set cluster settings")
 		}
 		return nil, nil
-	})
+	}); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if startOpts.ScheduleBackups {
+		return c.createFixedBackupSchedule(ctx, l, startOpts.ScheduleBackupArgs)
+	}
+	return nil
 }
 
 // NodeDir returns the data directory for the given node and store.
@@ -744,6 +755,40 @@ func (c *SyncedCluster) shouldAdvertisePublicIP() bool {
 	return false
 }
 
+// createFixedBackupSchedule creates a cluster backup schedule which, by
+// default, runs an incremental every 15 minutes and a full every hour. On
+// `roachprod create`, the user can provide a different recurrence using the
+// 'schedule-backup-args' flag. If roachprod is local, the backups get stored in
+// nodelocal, and otherwise in 'gs://cockroachdb-backup-testing'.
+func (c *SyncedCluster) createFixedBackupSchedule(
+	ctx context.Context, l *logger.Logger, scheduledBackupArgs string,
+) error {
+	externalStoragePath := `gs://cockroachdb-backup-testing`
+
+	if c.IsLocal() {
+		externalStoragePath = `nodelocal://1`
+	}
+	l.Printf("%s: creating backup schedule", c.Name)
+
+	collectionPath := fmt.Sprintf(`%s/roachprod-scheduled-backups/%s/%v`,
+		externalStoragePath, c.Name, timeutil.Now().UnixNano())
+
+	// Default scheduled backup runs a full backup every hour and an incremental
+	// every 15 minutes.
+	scheduleArgs := `RECURRING '*/15 * * * *' 
+FULL BACKUP '@hourly' 
+WITH SCHEDULE OPTIONS first_run = 'now'`
+
+	if scheduledBackupArgs != "" {
+		scheduleArgs = scheduledBackupArgs
+	}
+
+	createScheduleCmd := fmt.Sprintf(`-e 
+CREATE SCHEDULE IF NOT EXISTS test_only_backup FOR BACKUP INTO '%s' %s`,
+		collectionPath, scheduleArgs)
+	return c.SQL(ctx, l, []string{createScheduleCmd})
+}
+
 // getEnvVars returns all COCKROACH_* environment variables, in the form
 // "key=value".
 func getEnvVars() []string {
diff --git a/pkg/roachprod/roachprod.go b/pkg/roachprod/roachprod.go
index 9fd4fd0970e5..3fd970ceb0b3 100644
--- a/pkg/roachprod/roachprod.go
+++ b/pkg/roachprod/roachprod.go
@@ -635,12 +635,14 @@ func Extend(l *logger.Logger, clusterName string, lifetime time.Duration) error
 // DefaultStartOpts returns a StartOpts populated with default values.
 func DefaultStartOpts() install.StartOpts {
 	return install.StartOpts{
-		Sequential:      true,
-		EncryptedStores: false,
-		NumFilesLimit:   config.DefaultNumFilesLimit,
-		SkipInit:        false,
-		StoreCount:      1,
-		TenantID:        2,
+		Sequential:         true,
+		EncryptedStores:    false,
+		NumFilesLimit:      config.DefaultNumFilesLimit,
+		SkipInit:           false,
+		StoreCount:         1,
+		TenantID:           2,
+		ScheduleBackups:    false,
+		ScheduleBackupArgs: "",
 	}
 }