diff --git a/core/Cargo.toml b/core/Cargo.toml
index b85a16b17..a88797f9d 100644
--- a/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ tokio-util = { version = "0.7", features = ["io", "io-util"] }
 tokio-stream = "0.1"
 tonic = { workspace = true, features = ["tls", "tls-roots"] }
 tracing = "0.1"
+tracing-opentelemetry = "0.25"
 tracing-subscriber = { version = "0.3", features = ["parking_lot", "env-filter", "registry"] }
 url = "2.2"
 uuid = { version = "1.1", features = ["v4"] }
diff --git a/core/src/telemetry/mod.rs b/core/src/telemetry/mod.rs
index e6886618c..ef69fb4cd 100644
--- a/core/src/telemetry/mod.rs
+++ b/core/src/telemetry/mod.rs
@@ -11,6 +11,16 @@ mod prometheus_server;
 #[cfg(feature = "otel")]
 pub use metrics::{default_buckets_for, MetricsCallBuffer};
 #[cfg(feature = "otel")]
+use opentelemetry::{
+    self,
+    trace::{SpanKind, Tracer, TracerProvider},
+    KeyValue,
+};
+use opentelemetry_otlp::WithExportConfig;
+#[cfg(feature = "otel")]
+use opentelemetry_sdk;
+use otel::default_resource_instance;
+#[cfg(feature = "otel")]
 pub use otel::{build_otlp_metric_exporter, start_prometheus_metric_exporter};
 
 pub use log_export::{CoreLogBuffer, CoreLogBufferedConsumer, CoreLogStreamConsumer};
@@ -166,6 +176,7 @@ pub fn telemetry_init(opts: TelemetryOptions) -> Result<TelemetryInstance, anyho
     let mut console_pretty_layer = None;
     let mut console_compact_layer = None;
     let mut forward_layer = None;
+    let mut export_layer = None;
     // ===================================
 
     let tracing_sub = opts.logging.map(|logger| {
@@ -207,10 +218,53 @@ pub fn telemetry_init(opts: TelemetryOptions) -> Result<TelemetryInstance, anyho
                     Some(CoreLogConsumerLayer::new(consumer).with_filter(EnvFilter::new(filter)));
             }
         };
+
+        let runtime = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
+            .thread_name("telemetry")
+            .worker_threads(2)
+            .enable_all()
+            .build()
+            .unwrap();
+
+        // create otel export layer
+        runtime.block_on(async {
+            let tracer_cfg = opentelemetry_sdk::trace::Config::default()
+                .with_resource(default_resource_instance().clone());
+            let provider = opentelemetry_otlp::new_pipeline()
+                .tracing()
+                .with_exporter(
+                    opentelemetry_otlp::new_exporter()
+                        .tonic()
+                        .with_endpoint("grpc://localhost:4317".to_string()),
+                    // .with_metadata(MetadataMap::from_headers(headers.try_into()?)),
+                )
+                .with_trace_config(tracer_cfg)
+                // Using install_simple instead for now because install_batch is not producing spans and is emitting this error message:
+                // OpenTelemetry trace error occurred. cannot send message to batch processor as the channel is closed
+                // .install_batch(opentelemetry_sdk::runtime::Tokio)
+                .install_simple()
+                .unwrap();
+            opentelemetry::global::set_tracer_provider(provider.clone());
+
+            let tracer = provider.tracer_builder("sdk-core").build();
+            let opentelemetry = tracing_opentelemetry::layer().with_tracer(tracer);
+            //        .with_filter(EnvFilter::new(&tracing.filter))
+            export_layer = Some(opentelemetry);
+
+            let tracer = provider.tracer("sdk-core");
+
+            let _span = tracer
+                .span_builder("telemetry_init")
+                .with_kind(SpanKind::Server)
+                .with_attributes([KeyValue::new("temporal.worker", true)])
+                .start(&tracer);
+        });
+
         let reg = tracing_subscriber::registry()
             .with(console_pretty_layer)
             .with(console_compact_layer)
-            .with(forward_layer);
+            .with(forward_layer)
+            .with(export_layer);
 
         #[cfg(feature = "tokio-console")]
         let reg = reg.with(console_subscriber::spawn());
diff --git a/core/src/telemetry/otel.rs b/core/src/telemetry/otel.rs
index 486866d1f..d5d9bfd30 100644
--- a/core/src/telemetry/otel.rs
+++ b/core/src/telemetry/otel.rs
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ impl GaugeF64 for MemoryGauge<f64> {
     }
 }
 
-fn default_resource_instance() -> &'static Resource {
+pub(crate) fn default_resource_instance() -> &'static Resource {
     use once_cell::sync::OnceCell;
 
     static INSTANCE: OnceCell<Resource> = OnceCell::new();
diff --git a/core/src/worker/workflow/machines/workflow_machines.rs b/core/src/worker/workflow/machines/workflow_machines.rs
index 0e7907e1c..9cef88a0f 100644
--- a/core/src/worker/workflow/machines/workflow_machines.rs
+++ b/core/src/worker/workflow/machines/workflow_machines.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 mod local_acts;
 
+use opentelemetry::{
+    self,
+    trace::{SpanKind, Tracer},
+    KeyValue,
+};
+
 use super::{
     cancel_external_state_machine::new_external_cancel,
     cancel_workflow_state_machine::cancel_workflow,
@@ -526,6 +532,13 @@ impl WorkflowMachines {
     /// Apply the next (unapplied) entire workflow task from history to these machines. Will replay
     /// any events that need to be replayed until caught up to the newest WFT.
     pub(crate) fn apply_next_wft_from_history(&mut self) -> Result<usize> {
+        let tracer = opentelemetry::global::tracer("apply_next_wft_from_history-tracer");
+        let _span = tracer
+            .span_builder("apply_next_wft_from_history")
+            .with_kind(SpanKind::Server)
+            .with_attributes([KeyValue::new("temporal.worker", true)])
+            .start(&tracer);
+
         // If we have already seen the terminal event for the entire workflow in a previous WFT,
         // then we don't need to do anything here, and in fact we need to avoid re-applying the
         // final WFT.
diff --git a/core/src/worker/workflow/managed_run.rs b/core/src/worker/workflow/managed_run.rs
index 914025ff7..f46a98471 100644
--- a/core/src/worker/workflow/managed_run.rs
+++ b/core/src/worker/workflow/managed_run.rs
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ use crate::{
     MetricsContext,
 };
 use futures_util::future::AbortHandle;
+use opentelemetry::{trace::SpanKind, trace::Tracer, KeyValue};
 use std::{
     collections::HashSet,
     mem,
@@ -370,6 +371,13 @@ impl ManagedRun {
         used_flags: Vec<u32>,
         resp_chan: Option<oneshot::Sender<ActivationCompleteResult>>,
     ) -> Result<RunUpdateAct, NextPageReq> {
+        let tracer = opentelemetry::global::tracer("successful_completion-tracer");
+        let _span = tracer
+            .span_builder("successful_completion")
+            .with_kind(SpanKind::Server)
+            .with_attributes([KeyValue::new("temporal.worker", true)])
+            .start(&tracer);
+
         let activation_was_only_eviction = self.activation_is_eviction();
         let (task_token, has_pending_query, start_time) = if let Some(entry) = self.wft.as_ref() {
             (
diff --git a/core/src/worker/workflow/workflow_stream.rs b/core/src/worker/workflow/workflow_stream.rs
index e9f371d1b..afc794fb1 100644
--- a/core/src/worker/workflow/workflow_stream.rs
+++ b/core/src/worker/workflow/workflow_stream.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ use crate::{
     MetricsContext,
 };
 use futures::{stream, stream::PollNext, Stream, StreamExt};
+use opentelemetry::{trace::SpanKind, trace::Tracer, KeyValue};
 use std::{collections::VecDeque, fmt::Debug, future, sync::Arc};
 use temporal_sdk_core_api::errors::PollWfError;
 use temporal_sdk_core_protos::coresdk::workflow_activation::remove_from_cache::EvictionReason;
@@ -252,6 +253,13 @@ impl WFStream {
     }
 
     fn process_completion(&mut self, complete: NewOrFetchedComplete) -> Vec<ActivationOrAuto> {
+        let tracer = opentelemetry::global::tracer("process_completion-tracer");
+        let _span = tracer
+            .span_builder("process_completion")
+            .with_kind(SpanKind::Server)
+            .with_attributes([KeyValue::new("temporal.worker", true)])
+            .start(&tracer);
+
         let rh = if let Some(rh) = self.runs.get_mut(complete.run_id()) {
             rh
         } else {