diff --git a/src/triage/component/catwalk/model_trainers.py b/src/triage/component/catwalk/model_trainers.py
index ed1ea45ae..186aa9297 100644
--- a/src/triage/component/catwalk/model_trainers.py
+++ b/src/triage/component/catwalk/model_trainers.py
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 import pandas as pd
 
 from sklearn.model_selection import ParameterGrid
+from sklearn.utils import parallel_backend
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
 
 from triage.util.random import generate_python_random_seed
@@ -119,7 +120,12 @@ def _train(self, matrix_store, class_path, parameters):
         cls = getattr(module, class_name)
         instance = cls(**parameters)
 
-        return instance.fit(matrix_store.design_matrix, matrix_store.labels)
+        # using a threading backend because the default loky backend doesn't
+        # allow for nested parallelization (e.g., multiprocessing at triage level)
+        with parallel_backend('threading'):
+            fitted = instance.fit(matrix_store.design_matrix, matrix_store.labels)
+
+        return fitted
 
     @db_retry
     def _save_feature_importances(self, model_id, feature_importances, feature_names):
diff --git a/src/triage/component/catwalk/predictors.py b/src/triage/component/catwalk/predictors.py
index 79a4da0a5..36fe30fce 100644
--- a/src/triage/component/catwalk/predictors.py
+++ b/src/triage/component/catwalk/predictors.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import numpy as np
 from sqlalchemy.orm import sessionmaker
 from sqlalchemy import or_
+from sklearn.utils import parallel_backend
 
 from .utils import db_retry, retrieve_model_hash_from_id, save_db_objects, sort_predictions_and_labels, AVAILABLE_TIEBREAKERS
 from triage.component.results_schema import Model
@@ -269,9 +270,12 @@ def predict(self, model_id, matrix_store, misc_db_parameters, train_matrix_colum
         # Labels are popped from matrix (i.e. they are removed and returned)
         labels = matrix_store.labels
 
-        predictions = model.predict_proba(
-            matrix_store.matrix_with_sorted_columns(train_matrix_columns)
-        )[:, 1]  # Returning only the scores for the label == 1
+        # using a threading backend because the default loky backend doesn't
+        # allow for nested parallelization (e.g., multiprocessing at triage level)
+        with parallel_backend('threading'):
+            predictions = model.predict_proba(
+                matrix_store.matrix_with_sorted_columns(train_matrix_columns)
+            )[:, 1]  # Returning only the scores for the label == 1
 
 
         logger.debug(