diff --git a/test/e2e_node/remote/remote.go b/test/e2e_node/remote/remote.go
index c54b35ec66..746899f8b5 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/remote/remote.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/remote/remote.go
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
@@ -66,7 +68,7 @@ func CreateTestArchive(suite TestSuite, systemSpecName string) (string, error) {
 func RunRemote(suite TestSuite, archive string, host string, cleanup bool, imageDesc, junitFilePrefix string, testArgs string, ginkgoArgs string, systemSpecName string) (string, bool, error) {
 	// Create the temp staging directory
 	glog.V(2).Infof("Staging test binaries on %q", host)
-	workspace := fmt.Sprintf("/tmp/node-e2e-%s", getTimestamp())
+	workspace := newWorkspaceDir()
 	// Do not sudo here, so that we can use scp to copy test archive to the directdory.
 	if output, err := SSHNoSudo(host, "mkdir", workspace); err != nil {
 		// Exit failure with the error
@@ -126,13 +128,35 @@ func RunRemote(suite TestSuite, archive string, host string, cleanup bool, image
 	return output, len(aggErrs) == 0, utilerrors.NewAggregate(aggErrs)
 }
 
-// timestampFormat is the timestamp format used in the node e2e directory name.
-const timestampFormat = "20060102T150405"
+const (
+	// workspaceDirPrefix is the string prefix used in the workspace directory name.
+	workspaceDirPrefix = "node-e2e-"
+	// timestampFormat is the timestamp format used in the node e2e directory name.
+	timestampFormat = "20060102T150405"
+)
 
 func getTimestamp() string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf(time.Now().Format(timestampFormat))
 }
 
+func newWorkspaceDir() string {
+	return filepath.Join("/tmp", workspaceDirPrefix+getTimestamp())
+}
+
+// Parses the workspace directory name and gets the timestamp part of it.
+// This can later be used to name other artifacts (such as the
+// kubelet-${instance}.service systemd transient service used to launch
+// Kubelet) so that they can be matched to each other.
+func GetTimestampFromWorkspaceDir(dir string) string {
+	dirTimestamp := strings.TrimPrefix(filepath.Base(dir), workspaceDirPrefix)
+	re := regexp.MustCompile("^\\d{8}T\\d{6}$")
+	if re.MatchString(dirTimestamp) {
+		return dirTimestamp
+	}
+	// Fallback: if we can't find that timestamp, default to using Now()
+	return getTimestamp()
+}
+
 func getTestArtifacts(host, testDir string) error {
 	logPath := filepath.Join(*resultsDir, host)
 	if err := os.MkdirAll(logPath, 0755); err != nil {
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/services/BUILD b/test/e2e_node/services/BUILD
index f5992b2eba..4614e13e4f 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/services/BUILD
+++ b/test/e2e_node/services/BUILD
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ go_library(
         "//pkg/kubelet/apis/kubeletconfig/v1beta1:go_default_library",
         "//test/e2e/framework:go_default_library",
         "//test/e2e_node/builder:go_default_library",
+        "//test/e2e_node/remote:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/coreos/etcd/etcdserver:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/coreos/etcd/etcdserver/api/v2http:go_default_library",
         "//vendor/github.com/coreos/etcd/pkg/transport:go_default_library",
diff --git a/test/e2e_node/services/kubelet.go b/test/e2e_node/services/kubelet.go
index b1f631e08e..8672973c86 100644
--- a/test/e2e_node/services/kubelet.go
+++ b/test/e2e_node/services/kubelet.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"io/ioutil"
-	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -41,6 +40,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/kubelet/apis/kubeletconfig/v1beta1"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework"
 	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e_node/builder"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e_node/remote"
 )
 
 // TODO(random-liu): Replace this with standard kubelet launcher.
@@ -198,7 +198,12 @@ func (e *E2EServices) startKubelet() (*server, error) {
 		// Since kubelet will typically be run as a service it also makes more
 		// sense to test it that way
 		isSystemd = true
-		unitName := fmt.Sprintf("kubelet-%d.service", rand.Int31())
+		// We can ignore errors, to have GetTimestampFromWorkspaceDir() fallback
+		// to the current time.
+		cwd, _ := os.Getwd()
+		// Use the timestamp from the current directory to name the systemd unit.
+		unitTimestamp := remote.GetTimestampFromWorkspaceDir(cwd)
+		unitName := fmt.Sprintf("kubelet-%s.service", unitTimestamp)
 		if kubeletContainerized {
 			cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, systemdRun, "--unit="+unitName, "--slice=runtime.slice", "--remain-after-exit",
 				"/usr/bin/docker", "run", "--name=kubelet",