diff --git a/presto-server-rpm/pom.xml b/presto-server-rpm/pom.xml
index 7e1686cc85c5..7741e9f9eb69 100644
--- a/presto-server-rpm/pom.xml
+++ b/presto-server-rpm/pom.xml
@@ -95,6 +95,12 @@
                                             <name>python</name>
                                             <version>[2.4,)</version>
                                         </dependency>
+                                        <dependency>
+                                            <name>/usr/sbin/useradd</name>
+                                        </dependency>
+                                        <dependency>
+                                            <name>/usr/sbin/groupadd</name>
+                                        </dependency>
                                     </dependencies>
 
                                     <rules>
diff --git a/presto-server-rpm/src/main/resources/dist/etc/init.d/presto b/presto-server-rpm/src/main/resources/dist/etc/init.d/presto
index b982e454c362..8f5bca509ab3 100644
--- a/presto-server-rpm/src/main/resources/dist/etc/init.d/presto
+++ b/presto-server-rpm/src/main/resources/dist/etc/init.d/presto
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 SCRIPT_NAME=$0
 ACTION_NAME=$1
 SERVICE_NAME='presto'
+SERVICE_USER='presto'
 
 # Launcher Config.
 # Use data-dir from node.properties file (assumes it to be at /etc/presto). For other args use defaults from rpm install
@@ -33,28 +34,28 @@ start () {
     if [ -z "$JAVA8_HOME" ]
     then
         echo "Warning: No value found for JAVA8_HOME. Default Java will be used."
-        /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher start ${CONFIGURATION}
+        sudo -u $SERVICE_USER /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher start ${CONFIGURATION}
     else
-        PATH=${JAVA8_HOME}/bin:$PATH /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher start "${CONFIGURATION[@]}"
+        sudo -u $SERVICE_USER PATH=${JAVA8_HOME}/bin:$PATH /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher start "${CONFIGURATION[@]}"
     fi
     return $?
 }
 
 stop () {
     echo "Stopping ${SERVICE_NAME} "
-    /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher stop "${CONFIGURATION[@]}"
+    sudo -u $SERVICE_USER /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher stop "${CONFIGURATION[@]}"
     return $?
 }
 
 status () {
     echo "Getting status for ${SERVICE_NAME} "
-    /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher status "${CONFIGURATION[@]}"
+    sudo -u $SERVICE_USER /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher status "${CONFIGURATION[@]}"
     return $?
 }
 
 
 restart () {
-    /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher restart "${CONFIGURATION[@]}"
+    sudo -u $SERVICE_USER /usr/lib/presto/bin/launcher restart "${CONFIGURATION[@]}"
     return $?
 }
 
diff --git a/presto-server-rpm/src/main/rpm/postinstall b/presto-server-rpm/src/main/rpm/postinstall
index 49f2f1cc1961..f06cf7878edf 100644
--- a/presto-server-rpm/src/main/rpm/postinstall
+++ b/presto-server-rpm/src/main/rpm/postinstall
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
 # Post installation script
 
 # Dynamically populated directories that we expect to exist but do
-# not want to remove when removing the RPM
-install --directory --mode=775 /var/log/presto
+# not want to remove when removing the RPM. Ideally, we would do this
+# via the RPM building plugin, but adding empty directories is not
+# supported.
+install --directory --mode=755 /var/lib/presto
+install --directory --mode=755 /var/log/presto
+chown -R presto:presto /var/lib/presto
+chown -R presto:presto /var/log/presto
 
 # Populate node.id from uuidgen by replacing template with the node uuid
 sed -i "s/\$(uuid-generated-nodeid)/$(uuidgen)/g" /etc/presto/node.properties
diff --git a/presto-server-rpm/src/main/rpm/preinstall b/presto-server-rpm/src/main/rpm/preinstall
index ba79d5e933d3..d36d8958bbe5 100644
--- a/presto-server-rpm/src/main/rpm/preinstall
+++ b/presto-server-rpm/src/main/rpm/preinstall
@@ -66,3 +66,6 @@ if [ "$java_found" = false ]; then
 EOF
   exit 1
 fi
+
+getent group presto >/dev/null || /usr/sbin/groupadd -r presto
+getent passwd presto >/dev/null || /usr/sbin/useradd --comment "Presto" -s /sbin/nologin -g presto -r -d /var/lib/presto presto 2> /dev/null || :