diff --git a/app/models/merge_requests/merge_schedule.rb b/app/models/merge_requests/merge_schedule.rb
index 5749768b5a10d8368d1c1df0634091013001a19e..f5ea97afa22aedc098ed2bc78687f918d4f9d0d8 100644
--- a/app/models/merge_requests/merge_schedule.rb
+++ b/app/models/merge_requests/merge_schedule.rb
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 
 module MergeRequests
   class MergeSchedule < ApplicationRecord
+    include FromUnion
+
     self.table_name = 'merge_request_merge_schedules'
 
     belongs_to :merge_request, optional: false, inverse_of: :merge_schedule
diff --git a/app/workers/all_queues.yml b/app/workers/all_queues.yml
index f42a991b82b8c4ee20bc3ac6d3cdb97b3ed7992b..0c502cdb20d61ec847b81596895621fd23865b12 100644
--- a/app/workers/all_queues.yml
+++ b/app/workers/all_queues.yml
@@ -615,6 +615,15 @@
   :weight: 1
   :idempotent: false
   :tags: []
+- :name: cronjob:merge_requests_process_scheduled_merge
+  :worker_name: MergeRequests::ProcessScheduledMergeWorker
+  :feature_category: :code_review_workflow
+  :has_external_dependencies: false
+  :urgency: :low
+  :resource_boundary: :cpu
+  :weight: 1
+  :idempotent: false
+  :tags: []
 - :name: cronjob:metrics_global_metrics_update
   :worker_name: Metrics::GlobalMetricsUpdateWorker
   :feature_category: :observability
diff --git a/app/workers/merge_requests/process_scheduled_merge_worker.rb b/app/workers/merge_requests/process_scheduled_merge_worker.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..da2cd756a31827e248ca607f5bc62048f59284e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/workers/merge_requests/process_scheduled_merge_worker.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+module MergeRequests
+  class ProcessScheduledMergeWorker # rubocop:disable Scalability/IdempotentWorker -- time dependent queries can't be idempotent
+    include ApplicationWorker
+
+    data_consistency :always # rubocop:disable SidekiqLoadBalancing/WorkerDataConsistency -- this is a cronjob
+
+    include CronjobQueue
+    include ::Gitlab::ExclusiveLeaseHelpers
+
+    LOCK_RETRY = 3
+    LOCK_TTL = 5.minutes
+    DELAY = 7.seconds
+    BATCH_SIZE = 500
+
+    feature_category :code_review_workflow
+    worker_resource_boundary :cpu
+
+    def perform
+      in_lock(lock_key, **lock_params) do
+        # rubocop:disable CodeReuse/ActiveRecord -- using keyset pagination with custom order for better performance
+        order = Gitlab::Pagination::Keyset::Order.build([
+          Gitlab::Pagination::Keyset::ColumnOrderDefinition.new(
+            attribute_name: 'merge_after',
+            order_expression: MergeRequests::MergeSchedule.arel_table[:merge_after].asc,
+            nullable: :not_nullable
+          ),
+          Gitlab::Pagination::Keyset::ColumnOrderDefinition.new(
+            attribute_name: 'merge_request_id',
+            order_expression: MergeRequests::MergeSchedule.arel_table[:merge_request_id].asc,
+            nullable: :not_nullable
+          )
+        ])
+
+        scope = MergeRequests::MergeSchedule
+          .where(merge_after: ..Time.zone.now)
+          .order(order)
+          .select(:merge_after, :merge_request_id)
+
+        iterator = Gitlab::Pagination::Keyset::Iterator.new(scope: scope)
+
+        iteration = 0
+        iterator.each_batch(of: BATCH_SIZE) do |records|
+          loaded_records = MergeRequest
+            .with_auto_merge_enabled
+            .where(id: records.to_a.pluck(:merge_request_id))
+
+          enqueue_auto_merge_process_worker(loaded_records, iteration)
+          iteration += 1
+        end
+        # rubocop:enable CodeReuse/ActiveRecord
+      end
+    end
+
+    private
+
+    def lock_key
+      self.class.name.underscore
+    end
+
+    def lock_params
+      {
+        ttl: LOCK_TTL,
+        retries: LOCK_RETRY
+      }
+    end
+
+    def enqueue_auto_merge_process_worker(merge_requests, index)
+      AutoMergeProcessWorker.bulk_perform_in_with_contexts(
+        [1, index * DELAY].max,
+        merge_requests,
+        arguments_proc: ->(merge_request) { [merge_request.id] },
+        context_proc: ->(merge_request) { { project: merge_request.project, user: merge_request.merge_user } }
+      )
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/config/initializers/1_settings.rb b/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
index 14903eb3077c90c24771ee32505c65c7699068aa..7b8bc050d58dd92d9d20ba04a7f06e8ffb7909ab 100644
--- a/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/1_settings.rb
@@ -729,6 +729,9 @@
 Settings.cron_jobs['database_monitor_locked_tables_cron_worker'] ||= {}
 Settings.cron_jobs['database_monitor_locked_tables_cron_worker']['cron'] ||= '30 7 */3 * *'
 Settings.cron_jobs['database_monitor_locked_tables_cron_worker']['job_class'] = 'Database::MonitorLockedTablesWorker'
+Settings.cron_jobs['merge_requests_process_scheduled_merge'] ||= {}
+Settings.cron_jobs['merge_requests_process_scheduled_merge']['cron'] ||= '*/1 * * * *'
+Settings.cron_jobs['merge_requests_process_scheduled_merge']['job_class'] = 'MergeRequests::ProcessScheduledMergeWorker'
 
 Gitlab.ee do
   Settings.cron_jobs['analytics_devops_adoption_create_all_snapshots_worker'] ||= {}
diff --git a/db/migrate/20241008193537_add_merge_after_index_to_merge_schedules.rb b/db/migrate/20241008193537_add_merge_after_index_to_merge_schedules.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..7040b6242d3525083680eec53afab7897dbb4cbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20241008193537_add_merge_after_index_to_merge_schedules.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+class AddMergeAfterIndexToMergeSchedules < Gitlab::Database::Migration[2.2]
+  milestone '17.5'
+  disable_ddl_transaction!
+
+  INDEX_NAME = 'index_merge_request_merge_schedules_on_merge_after_and_mr_id'
+
+  def up
+    add_concurrent_index :merge_request_merge_schedules, %i[merge_after merge_request_id], name: INDEX_NAME
+  end
+
+  def down
+    remove_concurrent_index_by_name :merge_request_merge_schedules, INDEX_NAME
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema_migrations/20241008193537 b/db/schema_migrations/20241008193537
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..0f45f5c2b23ca641a0a564d4d5f092afc74846bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/schema_migrations/20241008193537
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+fe3d36a6325b811509c93659dc36a7462f5b06a7a8c2be844aad7f53e8685f3f
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/db/structure.sql b/db/structure.sql
index 2fb619b538bcfaa9ea4d158eda8f352dc8188927..fb69b3fcdd60671ac54d339ea805e377cbaa3945 100644
--- a/db/structure.sql
+++ b/db/structure.sql
@@ -29422,6 +29422,8 @@ CREATE INDEX index_merge_request_diffs_on_project_id ON merge_request_diffs USIN
 
 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_merge_request_diffs_on_unique_merge_request_id ON merge_request_diffs USING btree (merge_request_id) WHERE (diff_type = 2);
 
+CREATE INDEX index_merge_request_merge_schedules_on_merge_after_and_mr_id ON merge_request_merge_schedules USING btree (merge_after, merge_request_id);
+
 CREATE UNIQUE INDEX index_merge_request_merge_schedules_on_merge_request_id ON merge_request_merge_schedules USING btree (merge_request_id);
 
 CREATE INDEX index_merge_request_merge_schedules_on_project_id ON merge_request_merge_schedules USING btree (project_id);
diff --git a/spec/workers/merge_requests/process_scheduled_merge_worker_spec.rb b/spec/workers/merge_requests/process_scheduled_merge_worker_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f6100b72034c6fa2e22aa3d66fa15634ae45df1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/workers/merge_requests/process_scheduled_merge_worker_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# frozen_string_literal: true
+
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+RSpec.describe MergeRequests::ProcessScheduledMergeWorker, :sidekiq_inline, feature_category: :code_review_workflow do
+  include ExclusiveLeaseHelpers
+
+  subject(:perform) { described_class.new.perform }
+
+  let_it_be(:user) { create(:user) }
+
+  let!(:scheduled_mr) do
+    create(:merge_request, :unique_branches, author: user, merge_user: user, auto_merge_enabled: true).tap do |mr|
+      create(:merge_request_merge_schedule, merge_request: mr, merge_after: 1.minute.ago)
+    end
+  end
+
+  context 'when max retry attempts reach' do
+    let!(:lease) { stub_exclusive_lease_taken(described_class.name.underscore) }
+
+    it 'raises an error' do
+      expect(lease).to receive(:try_obtain).exactly(described_class::LOCK_RETRY + 1).times
+      expect { perform }.to raise_error(Gitlab::ExclusiveLeaseHelpers::FailedToObtainLockError)
+    end
+  end
+
+  context 'with scheduling delay' do
+    before do
+      stub_const("#{described_class}::BATCH_SIZE", 1)
+    end
+
+    let!(:other_scheduled_mr) do
+      create(:merge_request, :unique_branches, author: user, merge_user: user, auto_merge_enabled: true).tap do |mr|
+        create(:merge_request_merge_schedule, merge_request: mr, merge_after: 1.minute.ago)
+      end
+    end
+
+    it 'schedules AutoMergeProcessWorker for each batch with increasing delay' do
+      expect(AutoMergeProcessWorker)
+        .to receive(:bulk_perform_in)
+        .with(1.second, [[scheduled_mr.id]])
+        .and_call_original
+
+      expect(AutoMergeProcessWorker)
+        .to receive(:bulk_perform_in)
+        .with(7.seconds, [[other_scheduled_mr.id]])
+        .and_call_original
+
+      perform
+    end
+  end
+end