diff --git a/nemo_rl/models/megatron/setup.py b/nemo_rl/models/megatron/setup.py
index 93778aafa3..9357734393 100644
--- a/nemo_rl/models/megatron/setup.py
+++ b/nemo_rl/models/megatron/setup.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 import hashlib
+from datetime import timedelta
 import json
 import os
 import time
@@ -190,7 +191,7 @@ def destroy_parallel_state():
         pass
 
 
-def setup_distributed() -> None:
+def setup_distributed(timeout_minutes: Optional[int] = None) -> None:
     """Handle NCCL settings, dtype mapping, and basic config setup."""
     # Disable dynamo autotune_local_cache to avoid crash when there's already a cache
     # with different order of node_bundles
@@ -198,7 +199,10 @@ def setup_distributed() -> None:
     # Ensure clean slate before import
     destroy_parallel_state()
     # Need to initialize the process group before calling into Megatron-Bridge, otherwise Megatron-Bridge will try to set an incorrect device
-    torch.distributed.init_process_group("nccl")
+    kwargs = {}
+    if timeout_minutes is not None:
+        kwargs["timeout"] = timedelta(minutes=timeout_minutes)
+    torch.distributed.init_process_group("nccl", **kwargs)
 
 
 def validate_and_set_config(
@@ -399,7 +403,7 @@ def setup_model_config(
 
     # Create checkpoint configs
     checkpoint_config = _create_checkpoint_config(
-        pretrained_path, weights_path, optimizer_path
+        pretrained_path, weights_path, optimizer_path, config
     )
 
     # Validate training configuration
@@ -590,7 +594,7 @@ def _validate_chunking_config(config: PolicyConfig) -> None:
 
 
 def _create_checkpoint_config(
-    pretrained_path: str, weights_path: Optional[str], optimizer_path: Optional[str]
+    pretrained_path: str, weights_path: Optional[str], optimizer_path: Optional[str], config=None
 ) -> CheckpointConfig:
     """Create checkpoint configurations."""
     return CheckpointConfig(
@@ -599,10 +603,10 @@ def _create_checkpoint_config(
         load=weights_path,
         load_optim=optimizer_path is not None,
         pretrained_checkpoint=pretrained_path,
-        async_save=False,
-        fully_parallel_save=True,
-        fully_parallel_load=True,
-        load_rng=False,
+        async_save=(config or {}).get("megatron_cfg", {}).get("async_save", False),
+        fully_parallel_save=(config or {}).get("megatron_cfg", {}).get("fully_parallel_save", True),
+        fully_parallel_load=(config or {}).get("megatron_cfg", {}).get("fully_parallel_load", True),
+        load_rng=(config or {}).get("megatron_cfg", {}).get("load_rng", False),
     )
 
 
@@ -675,7 +679,7 @@ def _create_megatron_config(
     return ConfigContainer(
         model=model_cfg,
         checkpoint=checkpoint_config,
-        logger=LoggerConfig(logging_level=0),
+        logger=LoggerConfig(logging_level=config["megatron_cfg"].get("logging_level", 0)),
         train=TrainingConfig(
             micro_batch_size=1,  # ignored
             global_batch_size=config["train_global_batch_size"],  # ignored
@@ -683,7 +687,9 @@ def _create_megatron_config(
         ),
         optimizer=OptimizerConfig(**config["megatron_cfg"]["optimizer"]),
         ddp=DistributedDataParallelConfig(
-            check_for_nan_in_grad=True,
+            check_for_nan_in_grad=config["megatron_cfg"][
+                "distributed_data_parallel_config"
+            ].get("check_for_nan_in_grad", True),
             grad_reduce_in_fp32=config["megatron_cfg"][
                 "distributed_data_parallel_config"
             ]["grad_reduce_in_fp32"],
diff --git a/nemo_rl/models/policy/workers/megatron_policy_worker.py b/nemo_rl/models/policy/workers/megatron_policy_worker.py
index 7fdf397b4b..221308a830 100644
--- a/nemo_rl/models/policy/workers/megatron_policy_worker.py
+++ b/nemo_rl/models/policy/workers/megatron_policy_worker.py
@@ -134,7 +134,9 @@ def __init__(
         self.rank = get_rank_safe()
 
         # Step 1: Setup distributed
-        setup_distributed()
+        setup_distributed(
+            timeout_minutes=config.get("megatron_cfg", {}).get("distributed_timeout_minutes"),
+        )
 
         # Step 2: Validate and setup model paths
         hf_model_name, pretrained_path, pt_checkpoint_exists = validate_model_paths(
diff --git a/tests/unit/models/megatron/test_megatron_setup.py b/tests/unit/models/megatron/test_megatron_setup.py
index 8466b0d90a..d160e8935f 100644
--- a/tests/unit/models/megatron/test_megatron_setup.py
+++ b/tests/unit/models/megatron/test_megatron_setup.py
@@ -559,6 +559,28 @@ def test_basic_checkpoint_config(self, tmp_path):
         assert checkpoint_config.fully_parallel_load is True
         assert checkpoint_config.load_rng is False
 
+    def test_checkpoint_config_overrides(self, tmp_path):
+        """Test that checkpoint config fields can be overridden via megatron_cfg."""
+        from nemo_rl.models.megatron.setup import _create_checkpoint_config
+
+        config = {
+            "megatron_cfg": {
+                "async_save": True,
+                "fully_parallel_save": False,
+                "fully_parallel_load": False,
+                "load_rng": True,
+            }
+        }
+
+        checkpoint_config = _create_checkpoint_config(
+            str(tmp_path / "pretrained"), None, None, config
+        )
+
+        assert checkpoint_config.async_save is True
+        assert checkpoint_config.fully_parallel_save is False
+        assert checkpoint_config.fully_parallel_load is False
+        assert checkpoint_config.load_rng is True
+
 
 @pytest.mark.mcore
 class TestValidateTrainingConfig: