diff --git a/src/aituner/worker.py b/src/aituner/worker.py
index 71075ce..c3312d5 100644
--- a/src/aituner/worker.py
+++ b/src/aituner/worker.py
@@ -210,6 +210,50 @@ def _probe_outcome_details(
     }
 
 
+_SIGTERM_NOT_INSTALLED = object()
+
+
+def _install_sigterm_as_keyboardinterrupt() -> Any:
+    """Make SIGTERM raise KeyboardInterrupt so the engine-teardown finally runs.
+
+    When `study tune` is killed, a default SIGTERM skips the finally blocks and
+    orphans the vLLM engine (and its EngineCore workers) on the GPUs. Converting
+    SIGTERM to KeyboardInterrupt lets _terminate_process_tree run. Only installable
+    from the main thread; returns the previous handler (or a sentinel).
+    """
+    if threading.current_thread() is not threading.main_thread():
+        return _SIGTERM_NOT_INSTALLED
+
+    def _handler(signum: int, frame: Any) -> None:
+        raise KeyboardInterrupt()
+
+    try:
+        return signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, _handler)
+    except (ValueError, OSError):
+        return _SIGTERM_NOT_INSTALLED
+
+
+def _restore_sigterm(previous: Any) -> None:
+    if previous is _SIGTERM_NOT_INSTALLED:
+        return
+    if threading.current_thread() is not threading.main_thread():
+        return
+    try:
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, previous)
+    except (ValueError, OSError):
+        pass
+
+
+def _ignore_sigterm_if_main() -> None:
+    """Ignore SIGTERM during teardown so a second signal cannot orphan the engine."""
+    if threading.current_thread() is not threading.main_thread():
+        return
+    try:
+        signal.signal(signal.SIGTERM, signal.SIG_IGN)
+    except (ValueError, OSError):
+        pass
+
+
 def _adaptive_replay_set(
     selected: list[TraceRequest],
     *,
@@ -568,6 +612,7 @@ def run_trial(trial_spec_path: Path) -> dict[str, Any]:
             )
 
         process = launch_process()
+        previous_sigterm = _install_sigterm_as_keyboardinterrupt()
         probe_history: list[dict[str, Any]] = []
         failure_stage = "engine_launch"
         try:
@@ -826,4 +871,6 @@ def run_trial(trial_spec_path: Path) -> dict[str, Any]:
             StudyStore.write_json(Path(trial.result_path), result)
             return result
         finally:
+            _ignore_sigterm_if_main()
             _terminate_process_tree(process, timeout_s=30.0, marker_env=trial_marker_env)
+            _restore_sigterm(previous_sigterm)
diff --git a/tests/test_core_flow.py b/tests/test_core_flow.py
index 2772159..646c0be 100644
--- a/tests/test_core_flow.py
+++ b/tests/test_core_flow.py
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ from aituner.store import StudyStore
 from aituner.trace import load_trace_requests, summarize_window
 from aituner.worker import (
     _adaptive_replay_set,
+    _install_sigterm_as_keyboardinterrupt,
+    _restore_sigterm,
     _should_extend_on_boundary,
     _best_feasible_probe_record,
     _latency_summary,
@@ -589,6 +591,18 @@ class CoreFlowTests(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertFalse(outcome.success)
         self.assertIn("timed out", outcome.error)
 
+    def test_sigterm_is_converted_to_keyboardinterrupt(self) -> None:
+        # So a killed `study tune` runs the engine-teardown finally instead of
+        # orphaning the vLLM EngineCore workers on the GPUs.
+        import signal as _signal
+
+        previous = _install_sigterm_as_keyboardinterrupt()
+        try:
+            with self.assertRaises(KeyboardInterrupt):
+                _signal.raise_signal(_signal.SIGTERM)
+        finally:
+            _restore_sigterm(previous)
+
     def test_lca_similarity_matrix_separates_different_profiles(self) -> None:
         window = WindowRecord(
             window_id="base",