diff --git a/docs/users/configuration.rst b/docs/users/configuration.rst
index 059f3490..d177c7c7 100644
--- a/docs/users/configuration.rst
+++ b/docs/users/configuration.rst
@@ -630,7 +630,9 @@ resource manager. By default these commands are searched using the
 these commands and/or add some extra options. The following options
 are used by the SLURM backend:
 
-  * ``sbatch``: submit a job.
+  * ``sbatch``: submit a job; can specify additional arguments (they will be inserted between the ``sbatch`` invocation and the GC3Pie-provided options)
+
+  * ``srun``: run a job's payload; can specify additional arguments (they will be inserted between the ``srun`` invocation and the GC3Pie-provided options)
 
   * ``scancel``: cancel a job.
 
diff --git a/gc3libs/__init__.py b/gc3libs/__init__.py
index 6f915f29..8cf39203 100755
--- a/gc3libs/__init__.py
+++ b/gc3libs/__init__.py
@@ -1498,7 +1498,9 @@ def sbatch(self, resource, **extra_args):
                        '--cpus-per-task', ('%d' % self.requested_cores)]
             # we have to run the command through `srun` otherwise
             # SLURM launches every task as a single-CPU
-            cmdline = ['srun', '--cpus-per-task', ('%d' % self.requested_cores)] + cmdline
+            cmdline = (list(resource.srun)
+                       + ['--cpus-per-task', ('%d' % self.requested_cores)]
+                       + cmdline)
         if self.requested_memory:
             # SLURM uses `mem_free` for memory limits;
             # 'M' suffix allowed for Megabytes
diff --git a/gc3libs/backends/slurm.py b/gc3libs/backends/slurm.py
index dfae1dcc..5aaca65b 100755
--- a/gc3libs/backends/slurm.py
+++ b/gc3libs/backends/slurm.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 """
 Job control on SLURM clusters (possibly connecting to the front-end via SSH).
 """
-# Copyright (C) 2012-2016 S3IT, Zentrale Informatik, University of Zurich. All rights reserved.
+# Copyright (C) 2012-2016, 2018 University of Zurich. All rights reserved.
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by
@@ -126,6 +126,7 @@ def __init__(self, name,
 
         # backend-specific setup
         self.sbatch = self._get_command_argv('sbatch')
+        self.srun = self._get_command_argv('srun')
 
         # SLURM commands
         self._scancel = self._get_command('scancel')