diff --git a/deployment/proxy/nginx.conf b/deployment/proxy/nginx.conf
index 9a4094d2..980ccae0 100644
--- a/deployment/proxy/nginx.conf
+++ b/deployment/proxy/nginx.conf
@@ -12,6 +12,11 @@
 
 user www-data;
 worker_processes auto;
+# Raise the file-descriptor rlimit for the workers. Must stay <= the master's
+# RLIMIT_NOFILE *hard* limit, otherwise nginx refuses to start with
+# "setrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE) failed". Bounded from above by the systemd drop-in
+# /etc/systemd/system/nginx.service.d/override.conf (LimitNOFILE=65536).
+worker_rlimit_nofile 65536;
 pid /run/nginx.pid;
 
 error_log /var/log/nginx/error.log warn;