diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3bd6f8d88..4fd40a4b0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 - All pods now set `securityContext.seccompProfile.type` to `RuntimeDefault` ([#1043]).
 - Support Vector 0.58.0 ([#1039], [#1044], [#1046]).
 - test: Update OPA to 1.20.2 in integration tests and docs example ([#1042]).
+- The operator Deployment runs with a restricted security context and a read-only root filesystem, so it can be deployed into namespaces that enforce the `restricted` Pod Security Standard ([#1049]).
 
 ### Fixed
 
@@ -97,6 +98,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 [#1044]: https://github.com/stackabletech/kafka-operator/pull/1044
 [#1046]: https://github.com/stackabletech/kafka-operator/pull/1046
 [#1047]: https://github.com/stackabletech/kafka-operator/pull/1047
+[#1049]: https://github.com/stackabletech/kafka-operator/pull/1049
 
 ## [26.7.0] - 2026-07-21
 
diff --git a/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/values.schema.json b/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/values.schema.json
index c282f2082..9c00f09fd 100644
--- a/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/values.schema.json
+++ b/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/values.schema.json
@@ -115,13 +115,26 @@
       "title": "Pod security context",
       "description": "Pod-level security context for the operator pod, for example fsGroup. Passed through to Kubernetes unchanged. Applies to the operator pod only.",
       "type": "object",
-      "default": {}
+      "default": {
+        "runAsNonRoot": true,
+        "seccompProfile": {
+          "type": "RuntimeDefault"
+        }
+      }
     },
     "securityContext": {
       "title": "Container security context",
       "description": "Container-level security context for the operator container, for example readOnlyRootFilesystem or runAsNonRoot. Passed through to Kubernetes unchanged. Applies to the operator container only.",
       "type": "object",
-      "default": {}
+      "default": {
+        "allowPrivilegeEscalation": false,
+        "capabilities": {
+          "drop": [
+            "ALL"
+          ]
+        },
+        "readOnlyRootFilesystem": true
+      }
     },
     "resources": {
       "title": "Resource requests and limits",
@@ -265,14 +278,14 @@
         },
         "fileLog": {
           "title": "File logs",
-          "description": "Writes logs to /stackable/logs inside the container.",
+          "description": "Writes logs to /var/log/kafka-operator inside the container, on an emptyDir volume.",
           "type": "object",
           "additionalProperties": false,
           "properties": {
             "enabled": {
               "type": "boolean",
               "default": false,
-              "description": "Whether the operator also writes logs to /stackable/logs inside the container. Off by default: it needs a volume to be useful, otherwise the logs vanish with the pod."
+              "description": "Whether the operator also writes logs to /var/log/kafka-operator inside the container. Off by default. The logs survive container restarts but not the Pod."
             },
             "level": {
               "title": "File log level",
diff --git a/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/values.yaml b/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/values.yaml
index 2c5947ee6..65e3636e8 100644
--- a/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/values.yaml
+++ b/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/values.yaml
@@ -37,16 +37,21 @@ podAnnotations: {}
 labels:
   stackable.tech/vendor: Stackable
 
-podSecurityContext: {}
-  # fsGroup: 2000
-
-securityContext: {}
-  # capabilities:
-  #   drop:
-  #   - ALL
-  # readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
-  # runAsNonRoot: true
-  # runAsUser: 1000
+# Satisfies the restricted Pod Security Standard.
+# Already standard on OpenShift.
+podSecurityContext:
+  runAsNonRoot: true
+  seccompProfile:
+    type: RuntimeDefault
+
+securityContext:
+  allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
+  capabilities:
+    drop:
+      - ALL
+  # Not part of the restricted profile.
+  # Anything the operator writes has to go to a mounted volume.
+  readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
 
 resources:
   limits: