diff --git a/changelog/_9942.txt b/changelog/_9942.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c25eaa1c4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/_9942.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+core: interpret all new rotation manager rotation_schedules as UTC to avoid inadvertent use of tz-local
+```
diff --git a/sdk/rotation/schedule.go b/sdk/rotation/schedule.go
index 8d4af151f7..b1a5b8f105 100644
--- a/sdk/rotation/schedule.go
+++ b/sdk/rotation/schedule.go
@@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ func (d *DefaultSchedule) Parse(rotationSchedule string) (*cron.SpecSchedule, er
 	if !ok {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid rotation schedule")
 	}
+
+	// override the timezone in all cases, even if was set otherwise
+	sched.Location = time.UTC
+
 	return sched, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/sdk/rotation/schedule_test.go b/sdk/rotation/schedule_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b8e7fc75c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sdk/rotation/schedule_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+// Copyright (c) HashiCorp, Inc.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MPL-2.0
+
+package rotation
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+)
+
+func TestParseSchedule(t *testing.T) {
+	// Actual schedule-parsing tests are the responsibility of the library,
+	// (currently robfig/cron), but here are some cases for our specific functionality
+	cases := []struct {
+		name      string
+		in        string
+		shouldErr bool
+		location  *time.Location
+	}{
+		{"force local to utc", "* * * * *", false, time.UTC},
+		{"seconds are invalid", "* * * * * *", true, nil},
+
+		// Specifically override this usage
+		{"custom timezone", "CRON_TZ=Asia/Tokyo * * * * *", false, time.UTC},
+	}
+
+	for _, c := range cases {
+		t.Run(c.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			sched, err := DefaultScheduler.Parse(c.in)
+			if c.shouldErr { // should-err tests end here no matter what
+				if err == nil {
+					t.Error("should have errored, but didn't")
+				} else {
+					return
+				}
+			}
+
+			if err != nil {
+				t.Errorf("got unexpected error: %v", err)
+			}
+
+			// check the tz
+			if sched.Location.String() != c.location.String() {
+				t.Errorf("wrong tz, expected %s, got %s", c.location.String(), sched.Location.String())
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}