diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/haproxy.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/haproxy.nix
index 4678829986c64..e9d72b35499d1 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/haproxy.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/haproxy.nix
@@ -56,6 +56,9 @@ with lib;
       message = "You must provide services.haproxy.config.";
     }];
 
+    # configuration file indirection is needed to support reloading
+    environment.etc."haproxy.cfg".source = haproxyCfg;
+
     systemd.services.haproxy = {
       description = "HAProxy";
       after = [ "network.target" ];
@@ -64,11 +67,32 @@ with lib;
         User = cfg.user;
         Group = cfg.group;
         Type = "notify";
-        # when running the config test, don't be quiet so we can see what goes wrong
-        ExecStartPre = "${pkgs.haproxy}/sbin/haproxy -c -f ${haproxyCfg}";
-        ExecStart = "${pkgs.haproxy}/sbin/haproxy -Ws -f ${haproxyCfg}";
-        Restart = "on-failure";
+        ExecStartPre = [
+          # when the master process receives USR2, it reloads itself using exec(argv[0]),
+          # so we create a symlink there and update it before reloading
+          "${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/ln -sf ${pkgs.haproxy}/sbin/haproxy /run/haproxy/haproxy"
+          # when running the config test, don't be quiet so we can see what goes wrong
+          "/run/haproxy/haproxy -c -f ${haproxyCfg}"
+        ];
+        ExecStart = "/run/haproxy/haproxy -Ws -f /etc/haproxy.cfg -p /run/haproxy/haproxy.pid";
+        # support reloading
+        ExecReload = [
+          "${pkgs.haproxy}/sbin/haproxy -c -f ${haproxyCfg}"
+          "${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/ln -sf ${pkgs.haproxy}/sbin/haproxy /run/haproxy/haproxy"
+          "${pkgs.coreutils}/bin/kill -USR2 $MAINPID"
+        ];
+        KillMode = "mixed";
+        SuccessExitStatus = "143";
+        Restart = "always";
         RuntimeDirectory = "haproxy";
+        # upstream hardening options
+        NoNewPrivileges = true;
+        ProtectHome = true;
+        ProtectSystem = "strict";
+        ProtectKernelTunables = true;
+        ProtectKernelModules = true;
+        ProtectControlGroups = true;
+        SystemCallFilter= "~@cpu-emulation @keyring @module @obsolete @raw-io @reboot @swap @sync";
         # needed in case we bind to port < 1024
         AmbientCapabilities = "CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE";
       };
diff --git a/nixos/tests/haproxy.nix b/nixos/tests/haproxy.nix
index 79f34b07faf4b..ffb77c052a24b 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/haproxy.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/haproxy.nix
@@ -43,5 +43,13 @@ import ./make-test-python.nix ({ pkgs, ...}: {
     assert "haproxy_process_pool_allocated_bytes" in machine.succeed(
         "curl -k http://localhost:80/metrics"
     )
+
+    with subtest("reload"):
+        machine.succeed("systemctl reload haproxy")
+        # wait some time to ensure the following request hits the reloaded haproxy
+        machine.sleep(5)
+        assert "We are all good!" in machine.succeed(
+            "curl -k http://localhost:80/index.txt"
+        )
   '';
 })