diff --git a/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer/SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.cs b/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer/SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.cs
index 51bc4fd..1601616 100644
--- a/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer/SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.cs
+++ b/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/src/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer/SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.cs
@@ -13,9 +13,22 @@ namespace ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer;
 /// to run against a database whose recorded version is newer than this build supports.
 /// </summary>
 /// <param name="connectionFactory">Factory for connections to the shared secret database.</param>
-public sealed class SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator(SecretsSqlServerConnectionFactory connectionFactory)
-    : ISecretsStoreMigrator
+/// <param name="random">Jitter source for the retry back-off; inject a seeded instance for deterministic tests.</param>
+public sealed class SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator(
+    SecretsSqlServerConnectionFactory connectionFactory,
+    Random random) : ISecretsStoreMigrator
 {
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Initializes the migrator with the process-wide <see cref="Random.Shared"/> as its jitter source.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="connectionFactory">Factory for connections to the shared secret database.</param>
+    public SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator(SecretsSqlServerConnectionFactory connectionFactory)
+        : this(connectionFactory, Random.Shared)
+    {
+    }
+
+    private const int BaseBackoffMilliseconds = 100;
+
     // Every node runs this at every startup, so a virgin database being provisioned by N nodes at
     // once is the NORMAL case, not a rare race — and an unretried failure aborts that node's whole
     // host at startup. Two failure shapes come out of that race, and retrying is correct for both
@@ -63,13 +76,29 @@ public sealed class SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator(SecretsSqlServerConnectionFact
             catch (SqlException ex)
                 when (IsRetryableMigrationError(ex) && attempt < MaxMigrationRetries)
             {
-                // Staggered back-off so two victims do not retry in lockstep and race again.
-                await Task.Delay(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(100 * attempt), cancellationToken)
+                // Jittered back-off so N victims do not retry in lockstep and race again (a flat
+                // 100 * attempt schedule exhausted its retries ~1 in 60 eight-way boots in Auth's
+                // identical loop; scadaproj#18).
+                await Task.Delay(ComputeBackoff(attempt, random), cancellationToken)
                     .ConfigureAwait(false);
             }
         }
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Computes the delay before retry number <paramref name="attempt"/> using exponential back-off
+    /// with "equal jitter": half the exponential window is fixed, the other half is random, so the
+    /// result lies in [window/2, window) where window = 100 ms * 2^(attempt - 1).
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="attempt">The 1-based attempt that just failed.</param>
+    /// <param name="random">Jitter source; inject a seeded instance for deterministic tests.</param>
+    /// <returns>The delay to wait before the next attempt.</returns>
+    internal static TimeSpan ComputeBackoff(int attempt, Random random)
+    {
+        double window = BaseBackoffMilliseconds * Math.Pow(2, attempt - 1);
+        return TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds((window / 2) + (random.NextDouble() * window / 2));
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Whether any error carried by <paramref name="exception"/> is a retryable provisioning-race
     /// outcome. Scans the whole <see cref="SqlException.Errors"/> collection rather than only
diff --git a/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer.Tests/Live/SqlServerSecretStoreLiveTests.cs b/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer.Tests/Live/SqlServerSecretStoreLiveTests.cs
index c5cc1b1..2dc2d05 100644
--- a/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer.Tests/Live/SqlServerSecretStoreLiveTests.cs
+++ b/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer.Tests/Live/SqlServerSecretStoreLiveTests.cs
@@ -358,6 +358,17 @@ public sealed class SqlServerSecretStoreLiveTests : IAsyncLifetime
 
     [SkippableFact]
     public async Task Migrator_converges_when_many_nodes_provision_a_virgin_database_concurrently()
+        => await ProvisionConcurrentlyAsync(nodes: 4, rounds: 1);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// scadaproj#18: the Auth twin of this loop exhausted its retries ~1 in 60 eight-way boots with
+    /// flat back-off; repeated rounds of 8 concurrent migrators against fresh virgin schemas.
+    /// </summary>
+    [SkippableFact]
+    public async Task Migrate_Concurrently_FromEightTasks_AllSucceed()
+        => await ProvisionConcurrentlyAsync(nodes: 8, rounds: 10);
+
+    private static async Task ProvisionConcurrentlyAsync(int nodes, int rounds)
     {
         Skip.IfNot(LiveSqlServer.IsEnabled, LiveSqlServer.SkipReason);
 
@@ -367,10 +378,12 @@ public sealed class SqlServerSecretStoreLiveTests : IAsyncLifetime
         // 'zbsecrets'") — the retry filter then covered only deadlock 1205. Deliberately NOT the
         // class's shared schema: that one is already migrated by InitializeAsync, and this race
         // only exists against a virgin database.
+        for (int round = 0; round < rounds; round++)
+        {
         string schema = LiveSqlServer.NewSchemaName();
         try
         {
-            await Task.WhenAll(Enumerable.Range(0, 4).Select(_ => Task.Run(() =>
+            await Task.WhenAll(Enumerable.Range(0, nodes).Select(_ => Task.Run(() =>
                 new SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator(
                         new SecretsSqlServerConnectionFactory(LiveSqlServer.OptionsFor(schema)))
                     .MigrateAsync(CancellationToken.None))));
@@ -385,6 +398,7 @@ public sealed class SqlServerSecretStoreLiveTests : IAsyncLifetime
         {
             await LiveSqlServer.DropSchemaAsync(schema);
         }
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer.Tests/SqlServerSecretsStoreMigratorTests.cs b/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer.Tests/SqlServerSecretsStoreMigratorTests.cs
index 501ddef..779247a 100644
--- a/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer.Tests/SqlServerSecretsStoreMigratorTests.cs
+++ b/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.Secrets.Replicator.SqlServer.Tests/SqlServerSecretsStoreMigratorTests.cs
@@ -37,4 +37,40 @@ public sealed class SqlServerSecretsStoreMigratorTests
     [InlineData(-2)] // client-side timeout
     public void Non_race_error_numbers_are_not_retryable(int errorNumber)
         => Assert.False(SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.IsRetryableMigrationErrorNumber(errorNumber));
+
+    /// <summary>The jittered back-off stays inside [window/2, window) and grows with the attempt.</summary>
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData(1, 50, 100)]
+    [InlineData(2, 100, 200)]
+    [InlineData(4, 400, 800)]
+    public void Backoff_is_bounded_by_the_exponential_window(int attempt, double minMs, double maxMs)
+    {
+        var random = new Random(12345);
+        for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++)
+        {
+            double ms = SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.ComputeBackoff(attempt, random).TotalMilliseconds;
+            Assert.InRange(ms, minMs, maxMs);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Different draws give different delays (the lockstep-retry defect was a constant schedule).</summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Backoff_is_jittered_not_constant()
+    {
+        var random = new Random(42);
+        var delays = Enumerable.Range(0, 8)
+            .Select(_ => SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.ComputeBackoff(3, random))
+            .Distinct()
+            .ToList();
+        Assert.True(delays.Count > 1);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>A fixed jitter source yields an exactly predictable delay.</summary>
+    [Fact]
+    public void Backoff_is_deterministic_for_a_seeded_source()
+    {
+        Assert.Equal(
+            SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.ComputeBackoff(3, new Random(7)),
+            SqlServerSecretsStoreMigrator.ComputeBackoff(3, new Random(7)));
+    }
 }