diff --git a/AUTHORS.md b/AUTHORS.md
index 616545995b..57eaa5a968 100644
--- a/AUTHORS.md
+++ b/AUTHORS.md
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ The following individuals have contributed code to this repository
 * Joonas Bergius <joonas@digitalocean.com>
 * Joseph Wilk <joe@josephwilk.net>
 * Julius Volz <julius.volz@gmail.com>
+* Kraig Amador <kraig@bigkraig.com>
 * Laurie Malau <laurie.malau@gmail.com>
 * Marko Mikulicic <mkm@cesanta.com>
 * Matt T. Proud <matt.proud@gmail.com>
diff --git a/config/config.go b/config/config.go
index 482671182c..34ee8c4881 100644
--- a/config/config.go
+++ b/config/config.go
@@ -907,6 +907,7 @@ type EC2SDConfig struct {
 	Region          string         `yaml:"region"`
 	AccessKey       string         `yaml:"access_key,omitempty"`
 	SecretKey       string         `yaml:"secret_key,omitempty"`
+	Profile         string         `yaml:"profile,omitempty"`
 	RefreshInterval model.Duration `yaml:"refresh_interval,omitempty"`
 	Port            int            `yaml:"port"`
 
diff --git a/config/config_test.go b/config/config_test.go
index 1da06cf0f5..e4547b9826 100644
--- a/config/config_test.go
+++ b/config/config_test.go
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ var expectedConf = &Config{
 					Region:          "us-east-1",
 					AccessKey:       "access",
 					SecretKey:       "secret",
+					Profile:         "profile",
 					RefreshInterval: model.Duration(60 * time.Second),
 					Port:            80,
 				},
diff --git a/config/testdata/conf.good.yml b/config/testdata/conf.good.yml
index e2387f074c..da7883c16f 100644
--- a/config/testdata/conf.good.yml
+++ b/config/testdata/conf.good.yml
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ scrape_configs:
     - region: us-east-1
       access_key: access
       secret_key: secret
+      profile: profile
 
 - job_name: service-azure
   azure_sd_configs:
diff --git a/retrieval/discovery/ec2.go b/retrieval/discovery/ec2.go
index 65aa7bac06..73a095613c 100644
--- a/retrieval/discovery/ec2.go
+++ b/retrieval/discovery/ec2.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/credentials"
-	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/defaults"
+	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/session"
 	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/log"
 	"github.com/prometheus/common/model"
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@ func init() {
 type EC2Discovery struct {
 	aws      *aws.Config
 	interval time.Duration
+	profile  string
 	port     int
 }
 
@@ -79,13 +80,14 @@ type EC2Discovery struct {
 func NewEC2Discovery(conf *config.EC2SDConfig) *EC2Discovery {
 	creds := credentials.NewStaticCredentials(conf.AccessKey, conf.SecretKey, "")
 	if conf.AccessKey == "" && conf.SecretKey == "" {
-		creds = defaults.DefaultChainCredentials
+		creds = nil
 	}
 	return &EC2Discovery{
 		aws: &aws.Config{
 			Region:      &conf.Region,
 			Credentials: creds,
 		},
+		profile:  conf.Profile,
 		interval: time.Duration(conf.RefreshInterval),
 		port:     conf.Port,
 	}
@@ -130,7 +132,15 @@ func (ed *EC2Discovery) refresh() (tg *config.TargetGroup, err error) {
 		}
 	}()
 
-	ec2s := ec2.New(ed.aws)
+	sess, err := session.NewSessionWithOptions(session.Options{
+		Config:  *ed.aws,
+		Profile: ed.profile,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("could not create aws session: %s", err)
+	}
+
+	ec2s := ec2.New(sess)
 	tg = &config.TargetGroup{
 		Source: *ed.aws.Region,
 	}