diff --git a/etc/maxscale.service.in b/etc/maxscale.service.in
index 50e781f30..6717f6b25 100644
--- a/etc/maxscale.service.in
+++ b/etc/maxscale.service.in
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ After=network.target
 [Service]
 Type=forking
 PIDFile=@MAXSCALE_VARDIR@/run/maxscale/maxscale.pid
-ExecStart=@CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/@MAXSCALE_BINDIR@/maxscale
+ExecStart=@CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@/@MAXSCALE_BINDIR@/maxscale --user=maxscale
 
 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target