diff --git a/src/spikeinterface/sorters/launcher.py b/src/spikeinterface/sorters/launcher.py
index 53cf0aed71..7882330d08 100644
--- a/src/spikeinterface/sorters/launcher.py
+++ b/src/spikeinterface/sorters/launcher.py
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
     joblib=dict(n_jobs=-1, backend="loky"),
     processpoolexecutor=dict(max_workers=2, mp_context=None),
     dask=dict(client=None),
-    slurm=dict(tmp_script_folder=None, sbatch_args=dict(cpus_per_task=1, mem="1G")),
+    slurm={"tmp_script_folder": None, "sbatch_executable_path": "sbatch", "cpus-per-task": 1, "mem": "1G"},
 )
 
 
@@ -67,10 +67,16 @@ def run_sorter_jobs(job_list, engine="loop", engine_kwargs=None, return_output=F
         The engine to run the list.
         * "loop" : a simple loop. This engine is
     engine_kwargs : dict
-        In the case of engine="slum", arguments to sbatch can be passed via sbatch_args, which is a dictionary whose
-        keys correspond to the --args to be passed to sbatch.
-
-    return_output : bool, dfault False
+        In the case of engine="slum", possible kwargs are:
+        - tmp_script_folder: str, default None
+            the folder in which the job scripts are created. Default: directory created by
+            the `tempfile` library
+        - sbatch_executable_path: str, default 'sbatch'
+            the path to the `sbatch` executable
+        - other kwargs are interpreted as arguments to sbatch, and are translated to the --args to be passed to sbatch.
+          see the [documentation for `sbatch`](https://slurm.schedmd.com/sbatch.html) for a list of possible arguments
+
+    return_output : bool, default False
         Return a sortings or None.
         This also overwrite kwargs in run_sorter(with_sorting=True/False)
 
@@ -82,7 +88,8 @@ def run_sorter_jobs(job_list, engine="loop", engine_kwargs=None, return_output=F
 
     assert engine in _implemented_engine, f"engine must be in {_implemented_engine}"
 
-    engine_kwargs = {} if None else engine_kwargs
+    if engine_kwargs is None:
+        engine_kwargs = dict()
     engine_kwargs_ = dict()
     engine_kwargs_.update(_default_engine_kwargs[engine])
     engine_kwargs_.update(engine_kwargs)
@@ -148,10 +155,18 @@ def run_sorter_jobs(job_list, engine="loop", engine_kwargs=None, return_output=F
 
     elif engine == "slurm":
         # generate python script for slurm
-        tmp_script_folder = engine_kwargs["tmp_script_folder"]
+        tmp_script_folder = engine_kwargs.pop("tmp_script_folder")
         if tmp_script_folder is None:
             tmp_script_folder = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="spikeinterface_slurm_")
         tmp_script_folder = Path(tmp_script_folder)
+        sbatch_executable = engine_kwargs.pop("sbatch_executable_path")
+
+        # for backward compatibility with previous version
+        if "cpus_per_task" in engine_kwargs:
+            warnings.warn("cpus_per_task is deprecated, use cpus-per-task instead", DeprecationWarning)
+            cpus_per_task = engine_kwargs.pop("cpus_per_task")
+            if "cpus-per-task" not in engine_kwargs:
+                engine_kwargs["cpus-per-task"] = cpus_per_task
 
         tmp_script_folder.mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)
 
@@ -180,8 +195,14 @@ def run_sorter_jobs(job_list, engine="loop", engine_kwargs=None, return_output=F
                 )
                 f.write(slurm_script)
                 os.fchmod(f.fileno(), mode=stat.S_IRWXU)
-            sbatch_args = ' '.join(['--{k}={v}' for k, v in engine_kwargs['sbatch_args'].items()])
-            subprocess.Popen("sbatch", str(script_name.absolute()), sbatch_args)
+
+            progr = [sbatch_executable]
+            for k, v in engine_kwargs.items():
+                progr.append(f"--{k}")
+                progr.append(f"{v}")
+            progr.append(str(script_name.absolute()))
+            p = subprocess.run(progr, capture_output=True, text=True)
+            print(p.stdout)
 
     return out