diff --git a/t/Makefile.am b/t/Makefile.am
index a2a1d98c93aa..9e5529539ad7 100644
--- a/t/Makefile.am
+++ b/t/Makefile.am
@@ -310,6 +310,8 @@ dist_check_SCRIPTS = \
 	scripts/t0004-event-helper.sh \
 	scripts/tssh \
 	valgrind/valgrind-workload.sh \
+	valgrind/workload.d/wreck \
+	valgrind/workload.d/job \
 	kvs/kvs-helper.sh
 
 test_ldadd = \
diff --git a/t/t5000-valgrind.t b/t/t5000-valgrind.t
index 62c44db9e0f1..aa3eae0afe3b 100755
--- a/t/t5000-valgrind.t
+++ b/t/t5000-valgrind.t
@@ -45,6 +45,6 @@ test_expect_success 'valgrind reports no new errors on single broker run' '
 		--leak-resolution=med \
 		--error-exitcode=1 \
 		--suppressions=$VALGRIND_SUPPRESSIONS \
-		${BROKER} --shutdown-grace=16 ${VALGRIND_WORKLOAD} 10
+		${BROKER} --shutdown-grace=16 ${VALGRIND_WORKLOAD}
 '
 test_done
diff --git a/t/valgrind/valgrind-workload.sh b/t/valgrind/valgrind-workload.sh
index 9523b7595646..44fd2db54a93 100755
--- a/t/valgrind/valgrind-workload.sh
+++ b/t/valgrind/valgrind-workload.sh
@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-size=$(flux getattr size)
-NJOBS=$1
 echo FLUX_URI=$FLUX_URI
 
-for i in `seq 1 $NJOBS`; do
-    flux wreckrun --ntasks $size /bin/true
+for file in ${SHARNESS_TEST_SRCDIR:-..}/valgrind/workload.d/*; do
+	echo Running $(basename $file)
+	$file
 done
diff --git a/t/valgrind/workload.d/job b/t/valgrind/workload.d/job
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..9236a4ce3fbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/valgrind/workload.d/job
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+runjob() {
+    local size=$1
+    flux job submit <<EOT
+{"attributes":null,"tasks":[{"slot":"foo","count":{"per_slot":1},"command":"/bin/true"}],"version":1,"resources":[{"count":1,"type":"slot","with":[{"count":${size},"type":"node"}],"label":"foo"}]}
+EOT
+}
+
+NJOBS=10
+NTASKS_PER_JOB=1
+
+for i in `seq 1 $NJOBS`; do
+     runjob ${NTASKS_PER_JOB}
+done
diff --git a/t/valgrind/workload.d/wreck b/t/valgrind/workload.d/wreck
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..5c158259db63
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/valgrind/workload.d/wreck
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+size=$(flux getattr size)
+NJOBS=10
+
+for i in `seq 1 $NJOBS`; do
+     flux wreckrun --ntasks $size /bin/true
+done