diff --git a/changelog.d/20172_max_number_of_messages.enhancement.md b/changelog.d/20172_max_number_of_messages.enhancement.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..75f12b4e2d26c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/20172_max_number_of_messages.enhancement.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Adds a `max_number_of_messages` to the sqs configuration of the `aws_s3` source
+
+authors: fdamstra
diff --git a/src/sources/aws_s3/mod.rs b/src/sources/aws_s3/mod.rs
index 4d6b83079fec4..33418a70c54f8 100644
--- a/src/sources/aws_s3/mod.rs
+++ b/src/sources/aws_s3/mod.rs
@@ -800,6 +800,7 @@ mod integration_tests {
             sqs: Some(sqs::Config {
                 queue_url: queue_url.to_string(),
                 poll_secs: 1,
+                max_number_of_messages: 10,
                 visibility_timeout_secs: 0,
                 client_concurrency: None,
                 ..Default::default()
diff --git a/src/sources/aws_s3/sqs.rs b/src/sources/aws_s3/sqs.rs
index 3556700211277..47c91afb78e5d 100644
--- a/src/sources/aws_s3/sqs.rs
+++ b/src/sources/aws_s3/sqs.rs
@@ -122,6 +122,19 @@ pub(super) struct Config {
     #[configurable(metadata(docs::examples = 5))]
     pub(super) client_concurrency: Option<NonZeroUsize>,
 
+    /// Maximum number of messages to poll from SQS in a batch
+    ///
+    /// Defaults to 10
+    ///
+    /// Should be set to a smaller value when the files are large to help prevent the ingestion of
+    /// one file from causing the other files to exceed the visibility_timeout. Valid values are 1 - 10
+    // NOTE: We restrict this to u32 for safe conversion to i32 later.
+    #[serde(default = "default_max_number_of_messages")]
+    #[derivative(Default(value = "default_max_number_of_messages()"))]
+    #[configurable(metadata(docs::human_name = "Max Messages"))]
+    #[configurable(metadata(docs::examples = 1))]
+    pub(super) max_number_of_messages: u32,
+
     #[configurable(derived)]
     #[serde(default)]
     #[derivative(Default)]
@@ -136,6 +149,10 @@ const fn default_visibility_timeout_secs() -> u32 {
     300
 }
 
+const fn default_max_number_of_messages() -> u32 {
+    10
+}
+
 const fn default_true() -> bool {
     true
 }
@@ -147,6 +164,8 @@ pub(super) enum IngestorNewError {
         source: std::num::TryFromIntError,
         timeout: u64,
     },
+    #[snafu(display("Invalid value for max_number_of_messages {}", messages))]
+    InvalidNumberOfMessages { messages: u32 },
 }
 
 #[allow(clippy::large_enum_variant)]
@@ -207,6 +226,7 @@ pub struct State {
 
     queue_url: String,
     poll_secs: i32,
+    max_number_of_messages: i32,
     client_concurrency: usize,
     visibility_timeout_secs: i32,
     delete_message: bool,
@@ -228,6 +248,11 @@ impl Ingestor {
         multiline: Option<line_agg::Config>,
         decoder: Decoder,
     ) -> Result<Ingestor, IngestorNewError> {
+        if config.max_number_of_messages < 1 || config.max_number_of_messages > 10 {
+            return Err(IngestorNewError::InvalidNumberOfMessages {
+                messages: config.max_number_of_messages,
+            });
+        }
         let state = Arc::new(State {
             region,
 
@@ -239,6 +264,7 @@ impl Ingestor {
 
             queue_url: config.queue_url,
             poll_secs: config.poll_secs as i32,
+            max_number_of_messages: config.max_number_of_messages as i32,
             client_concurrency: config
                 .client_concurrency
                 .map(|n| n.get())
@@ -637,7 +663,7 @@ impl IngestorProcess {
             .sqs_client
             .receive_message()
             .queue_url(self.state.queue_url.clone())
-            .max_number_of_messages(10)
+            .max_number_of_messages(self.state.max_number_of_messages)
             .visibility_timeout(self.state.visibility_timeout_secs)
             .wait_time_seconds(self.state.poll_secs)
             .send()
diff --git a/website/cue/reference/components/sources/base/aws_s3.cue b/website/cue/reference/components/sources/base/aws_s3.cue
index 6bb6087373d07..1965dcd213277 100644
--- a/website/cue/reference/components/sources/base/aws_s3.cue
+++ b/website/cue/reference/components/sources/base/aws_s3.cue
@@ -605,6 +605,21 @@ base: components: sources: aws_s3: configuration: {
 				required: false
 				type: bool: default: true
 			}
+			max_number_of_messages: {
+				description: """
+					Maximum number of messages to poll from SQS in a batch
+
+					Defaults to 10
+
+					Should be set to a smaller value when the files are large to help prevent the ingestion of
+					one file from causing the other files to exceed the visibility_timeout. Valid values are 1 - 10
+					"""
+				required: false
+				type: uint: {
+					default: 10
+					examples: [1]
+				}
+			}
 			poll_secs: {
 				description: """
 					How long to wait while polling the queue for new messages, in seconds.