diff --git a/pom_confluent.xml b/pom_confluent.xml
index 472046910..59224c6e1 100644
--- a/pom_confluent.xml
+++ b/pom_confluent.xml
@@ -589,6 +589,7 @@
             <groupId>io.confluent</groupId>
             <artifactId>kafka-connect-avro-converter</artifactId>
             <version>${confluent.version}</version>
+            <scope>provided</scope>
         </dependency>
 
         <dependency>