diff --git a/cmd/eksctl-anywhere/cmd/createcluster.go b/cmd/eksctl-anywhere/cmd/createcluster.go
index a7398485185ce..6b65e35a11386 100644
--- a/cmd/eksctl-anywhere/cmd/createcluster.go
+++ b/cmd/eksctl-anywhere/cmd/createcluster.go
@@ -235,8 +235,8 @@ func (cc *createClusterOptions) createCluster(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string) er
 	clusCreator := clustermanager.ClusterCreator{
 		Applier: deps.ClusterApplier,
 		KM: clustermanager.KubeconfigManager{
-			Client: deps.UnAuthKubeClient.KubeconfigClient(mgmt.KubeconfigFile),
-			FS:     deps.Writer,
+			ClientFactory: deps.UnAuthKubeClient,
+			FS:            deps.Writer,
 		},
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/clustermanager/cluster_creator.go b/pkg/clustermanager/cluster_creator.go
index 3edacb9a5a912..7ae7d8dec0c32 100644
--- a/pkg/clustermanager/cluster_creator.go
+++ b/pkg/clustermanager/cluster_creator.go
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
 package clustermanager
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"context"
 
 	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/cluster"
+	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/filewriter"
+	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/kubeconfig"
 	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/providers"
 	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/types"
 )
@@ -30,19 +31,24 @@ func (cc ClusterCreator) getWorkloadCluster(ctx context.Context, clusterName str
 		ExistingManagement: management.ExistingManagement,
 	}
 
-	// Use a buffer to cache the kubeconfig.
-	var buf bytes.Buffer
+	fh, path, err := cc.KM.FS.Create(
+		kubeconfig.FormatWorkloadClusterKubeconfigFilename(clusterName),
+		filewriter.PersistentFile,
+		filewriter.Permission0600,
+	)
 
-	err := cc.KM.GetKubeconfig(ctx, clusterName, &buf)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	kubeconfigPath, err := cc.KM.WriteKubeconfig(buf.Bytes(), clusterName, provider)
+	err = cc.KM.UpdateKubeconfig(ctx, clusterName, management.KubeconfigFile, provider, fh)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	workloadCluster.KubeconfigFile = kubeconfigPath
+
+	defer fh.Close()
+
+	workloadCluster.KubeconfigFile = path
 
 	return workloadCluster, nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/clustermanager/kubeconfig_manager.go b/pkg/clustermanager/kubeconfig_manager.go
index 137f841a67a99..39676560902d9 100644
--- a/pkg/clustermanager/kubeconfig_manager.go
+++ b/pkg/clustermanager/kubeconfig_manager.go
@@ -9,29 +9,32 @@ import (
 
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 
-	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/clients/kubernetes"
 	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/constants"
 	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/filewriter"
-	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/kubeconfig"
 	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/providers"
 	"github.com/aws/eks-anywhere/pkg/retrier"
 )
 
 type KubeconfigManager struct {
-	Client kubernetes.Client
+	ClientFactory ClientFactory
 	// FS is a file system abstraction providing file creation and write capabilities
 	FS filewriter.FileWriter
 }
 
-// GetKubeconfig retrieves the contents of the specified cluster's kubeconfig from a secret and copies it to an io.Writer.
-func (km KubeconfigManager) GetKubeconfig(ctx context.Context, clusterName string, w io.Writer) error {
+// UpdateKubeconfig retrieves the contents of the specified cluster's kubeconfig from a secret and copies it to an io.Writer.
+func (km KubeconfigManager) UpdateKubeconfig(ctx context.Context, clusterName, kubeconfig string, provider providers.Provider, w io.Writer) error {
 	kubeconfigSecret := &corev1.Secret{}
 
 	err := retrier.New(
 		time.Minute,
 		retrier.WithRetryPolicy(retrier.BackOffPolicy(time.Second)),
 	).Retry(func() error {
-		err := km.Client.Get(ctx, fmt.Sprintf("%s-kubeconfig", clusterName), constants.EksaSystemNamespace, kubeconfigSecret)
+		client, err := km.ClientFactory.BuildClientFromKubeconfig(kubeconfig)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+
+		err = client.Get(ctx, fmt.Sprintf("%s-kubeconfig", clusterName), constants.EksaSystemNamespace, kubeconfigSecret)
 
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
@@ -44,30 +47,15 @@ func (km KubeconfigManager) GetKubeconfig(ctx context.Context, clusterName strin
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if _, err := io.Copy(w, bytes.NewReader(kubeconfigSecret.Data["value"])); err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	return nil
-}
-
-// WriteKubeconfig takes a raw binary kubeconfig in memory, writes the kubeconfig to a file on disk, and returns the path of the kubeconfig file.
-func (km KubeconfigManager) WriteKubeconfig(rawkubeconfig []byte, clusterName string, provider providers.Provider) (string, error) {
-	err := provider.UpdateKubeConfig(&rawkubeconfig, clusterName)
+	rawkubeconfig := kubeconfigSecret.Data["value"]
+	err = provider.UpdateKubeConfig(&rawkubeconfig, clusterName)
 	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
+		return err
 	}
 
-	kubeconfigPath, err := km.FS.Write(
-		kubeconfig.FormatWorkloadClusterKubeconfigFilename(clusterName),
-		rawkubeconfig,
-		filewriter.PersistentFile,
-		filewriter.Permission0600,
-	)
-
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", err
+	if _, err := io.Copy(w, bytes.NewReader(rawkubeconfig)); err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
 
-	return kubeconfigPath, nil
+	return err
 }