diff --git a/src/main/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/BulkProcessor.java b/src/main/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/BulkProcessor.java
index 91f37009..154e491d 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/BulkProcessor.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/BulkProcessor.java
@@ -383,6 +383,18 @@ private void sendToErrantRecordReporter(final String errorMessage, final SinkRec
         }
 
         private BulkResponse execute() throws Exception {
+            class RetriableError extends RuntimeException {
+                private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
+
+                public RetriableError(final String errorMessage) {
+                    super(errorMessage);
+                }
+
+                public RetriableError(final Throwable cause) {
+                    super(cause);
+                }
+            }
+
             return callWithRetry("bulk processing", () -> {
                 try {
                     final var response =
@@ -403,7 +415,7 @@ private BulkResponse execute() throws Exception {
                                 } else if (responseContainsVersionConflict(itemResponse)) {
                                     handleVersionConflict(itemResponse);
                                 } else {
-                                    throw new RuntimeException(
+                                    throw new RetriableError(
                                             "One of the item in the bulk response failed. Reason: "
                                             + itemResponse.getFailureMessage());
                                 }
@@ -418,9 +430,9 @@ private BulkResponse execute() throws Exception {
                 } catch (final IOException e) {
                     LOGGER.error(
                             "Failed to send bulk request from batch {} of {} records", batchId, batch.size(), e);
-                    throw new ConnectException(e);
+                    throw new RetriableError(e);
                 }
-            }, maxRetries, retryBackoffMs, RuntimeException.class);
+            }, maxRetries, retryBackoffMs, RetriableError.class);
         }
 
         private void handleVersionConflict(final BulkItemResponse bulkItemResponse) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/RetryUtil.java b/src/main/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/RetryUtil.java
index 91d970bd..d3e2ea3e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/RetryUtil.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/RetryUtil.java
@@ -118,7 +118,14 @@ public static <T, E extends Exception> T callWithRetry(
                 LOGGER.trace("Try {} with attempt {}/{}", callName, attempts, maxAttempts);
                 return callable.call();
             } catch (final Exception e) {
-                if (attempts < maxAttempts && e.getClass().equals(repeatableException)) {
+                if (!repeatableException.isAssignableFrom(e.getClass())) {
+                    final var msg = String.format(
+                            "Non-repeatable exception trown by %s",
+                            callName
+                    );
+                    LOGGER.error(msg, e);
+                    throw new ConnectException(msg, e);
+                } else if (attempts < maxAttempts) {
                     final long sleepTimeMs = computeRandomRetryWaitTimeInMillis(retryAttempts, retryBackoffMs);
                     final var msg =
                             String.format(
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/RetryUtilTest.java b/src/test/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/RetryUtilTest.java
index 8db0e62d..758bebd0 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/RetryUtilTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/aiven/kafka/connect/opensearch/RetryUtilTest.java
@@ -17,9 +17,14 @@
 
 package io.aiven.kafka.connect.opensearch;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import org.apache.kafka.connect.errors.ConnectException;
+
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertThrows;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertTrue;
 
 public class RetryUtilTest {
@@ -49,6 +54,53 @@ public void computeNonRandomRetryTimes() {
         assertEquals(3200L, RetryUtil.computeRetryWaitTimeInMillis(5, 100L));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void callWithRetryRetriableError() {
+        final int[] attempt = new int[1];
+        final int maxRetries = 3;
+        final int res = RetryUtil.callWithRetry("test callWithRetryRetriableError", () -> {
+            if (attempt[0] < maxRetries) {
+                ++attempt[0];
+                throw new ArithmeticException();
+            }
+            return attempt[0];
+        }, maxRetries, 1L, RuntimeException.class);
+
+        assertEquals(maxRetries, res);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void callWithRetryMaxRetries() {
+        final int[] attempt = new int[1];
+        final int maxRetries = 3;
+        assertThrows(
+            ConnectException.class,
+            () -> {
+                RetryUtil.callWithRetry("test callWithRetryMaxRetries", () -> {
+                    ++attempt[0];
+                    throw new ArithmeticException();
+                }, maxRetries, 1L, RuntimeException.class);
+            });
+
+        assertEquals(maxRetries + 1, attempt[0]);
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void callWithRetryNonRetriableError() {
+        final int[] attempt = new int[1];
+        final int maxRetries = 3;
+        assertThrows(
+            ConnectException.class,
+            () -> {
+                RetryUtil.callWithRetry("test callWithRetryNonRetriableError", () -> {
+                    ++attempt[0];
+                    throw new ArithmeticException();
+                }, maxRetries, 1L, IOException.class);
+            });
+
+        assertEquals(1, attempt[0]);
+    }
+
     protected void assertComputeRetryInRange(final int retryAttempts, final long retryBackoffMs) {
         for (int i = 0; i != 20; ++i) {
             for (int retries = 0; retries <= retryAttempts; ++retries) {