diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 467758c50c1..439e1b726f3 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ ext.externalDependency = [
   "curatorTest": "org.apache.curator:curator-test:2.8.0",
   "hamcrest": "org.hamcrest:hamcrest-all:1.3",
   "joptSimple": "net.sf.jopt-simple:jopt-simple:4.9",
-  "protobuf": "com.google.protobuf:protobuf-java:2.6.1",
+  "protobuf": "com.google.protobuf:protobuf-java:2.5.0",
   "pegasus" : [
     "data" : "com.linkedin.pegasus:data:" + pegasusVersion,
     "generator" : "com.linkedin.pegasus:generator:" + pegasusVersion,
diff --git a/gobblin-api/src/main/java/gobblin/configuration/ConfigurationKeys.java b/gobblin-api/src/main/java/gobblin/configuration/ConfigurationKeys.java
index 489bb2ffcf6..dfa59b7f7c5 100644
--- a/gobblin-api/src/main/java/gobblin/configuration/ConfigurationKeys.java
+++ b/gobblin-api/src/main/java/gobblin/configuration/ConfigurationKeys.java
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ public class ConfigurationKeys {
   public static final String JOB_TRACKING_URL_KEY = "job.tracking.url";
   public static final String FORK_STATE_KEY = "fork.state";
   public static final String JOB_STATE_FILE_PATH_KEY = "job.state.file.path";
+  public static final String JOB_STATE_DISTRIBUTED_CACHE_NAME = "job.state.distributed.cache.name";
 
   /**
    * Dataset-related configuration properties;
@@ -486,7 +487,7 @@ public class ConfigurationKeys {
    * Kafka job configurations.
    */
   public static final String KAFKA_BROKERS = "kafka.brokers";
-  public static final String KAFKA_SOURCE_WORK_UNITS_CREATION_THREADS = "kafka.source.work.units.creation.threads"; 
+  public static final String KAFKA_SOURCE_WORK_UNITS_CREATION_THREADS = "kafka.source.work.units.creation.threads";
   public static final int KAFKA_SOURCE_WORK_UNITS_CREATION_DEFAULT_THREAD_COUNT = 30;
 
   /**
diff --git a/gobblin-runtime/src/main/java/gobblin/runtime/mapreduce/MRJobLauncher.java b/gobblin-runtime/src/main/java/gobblin/runtime/mapreduce/MRJobLauncher.java
index a648c97f244..1045167a8c3 100644
--- a/gobblin-runtime/src/main/java/gobblin/runtime/mapreduce/MRJobLauncher.java
+++ b/gobblin-runtime/src/main/java/gobblin/runtime/mapreduce/MRJobLauncher.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 package gobblin.runtime.mapreduce;
 
 import java.io.BufferedWriter;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.OutputStream;
 import java.io.OutputStreamWriter;
@@ -335,6 +336,9 @@ static void serializeJobState(FileSystem fs, Path mrJobDir, Configuration conf,
     short jobStateRF = (short)conf.getInt("dfs.replication.max", 20);
     SerializationUtils.serializeState(fs, jobStateFilePath, jobState, jobStateRF);
     job.getConfiguration().set(ConfigurationKeys.JOB_STATE_FILE_PATH_KEY, jobStateFilePath.toString());
+
+    DistributedCache.addCacheFile(jobStateFilePath.toUri(), job.getConfiguration());
+    job.getConfiguration().set(ConfigurationKeys.JOB_STATE_DISTRIBUTED_CACHE_NAME, jobStateFilePath.getName());
   }
 
   /**
@@ -509,14 +513,25 @@ public static class TaskRunner extends Mapper<LongWritable, Text, NullWritable,
 
     @Override
     protected void setup(Context context) {
-      try {
+      try(Closer closer = Closer.create()) {
         this.fs = FileSystem.get(context.getConfiguration());
         this.taskStateStore =
             new FsStateStore<>(this.fs, FileOutputFormat.getOutputPath(context).toUri().getPath(),
                 TaskState.class);
 
-        Path jobStateFilePath = new Path(context.getConfiguration().get(ConfigurationKeys.JOB_STATE_FILE_PATH_KEY));
-        SerializationUtils.deserializeState(this.fs, jobStateFilePath, this.jobState);
+        String jobStateFileName = context.getConfiguration().get(ConfigurationKeys.JOB_STATE_DISTRIBUTED_CACHE_NAME);
+        boolean foundStateFile = false;
+        for (Path dcPath : DistributedCache.getLocalCacheFiles(context.getConfiguration())) {
+          if (dcPath.getName().equals(jobStateFileName)) {
+            SerializationUtils.deserializeStateFromInputStream(closer.register(new FileInputStream(dcPath.toUri().getPath())),
+                this.jobState);
+            foundStateFile = true;
+            break;
+          }
+        }
+        if (!foundStateFile) {
+          throw new IOException("Job state file not found.");
+        }
       } catch (IOException ioe) {
         throw new RuntimeException("Failed to setup the mapper task", ioe);
       }
diff --git a/gobblin-utility/src/main/java/gobblin/util/SerializationUtils.java b/gobblin-utility/src/main/java/gobblin/util/SerializationUtils.java
index bf2c6a269f1..5bf3a6a046c 100644
--- a/gobblin-utility/src/main/java/gobblin/util/SerializationUtils.java
+++ b/gobblin-utility/src/main/java/gobblin/util/SerializationUtils.java
@@ -146,8 +146,22 @@ public static <T extends State> void serializeState(FileSystem fs, Path jobState
    */
   public static <T extends State> void deserializeState(FileSystem fs, Path jobStateFilePath, T state)
       throws IOException {
+    try (InputStream is = fs.open(jobStateFilePath)) {
+      deserializeStateFromInputStream(is, state);
+    }
+  }
 
-    try (InputStream is = fs.open(jobStateFilePath); DataInputStream dis = (new DataInputStream(is))) {
+  /**
+   * Deserialize/read a {@link State} instance from a file.
+   *
+   * @param is {@link InputStream} containing the state.
+   * @param state an empty {@link State} instance to deserialize into
+   * @param <T> the {@link State} object type
+   * @throws IOException if it fails to deserialize the {@link State} instance
+   */
+  public static <T extends State> void deserializeStateFromInputStream(InputStream is, T state)
+      throws IOException {
+    try (DataInputStream dis = (new DataInputStream(is))) {
       state.readFields(dis);
     }
   }