diff --git a/test/e2e/nodeagentconfig/node-agent-config.go b/test/e2e/nodeagentconfig/node-agent-config.go
index dc88d98bd..5266bffc5 100644
--- a/test/e2e/nodeagentconfig/node-agent-config.go
+++ b/test/e2e/nodeagentconfig/node-agent-config.go
@@ -77,6 +77,14 @@ var LoadAffinities func() = TestFunc(&NodeAgentConfigTestCase{
 			IgnoreDelayBinding: true,
 		},
 		PriorityClassName: test.PriorityClassNameForDataMover,
+		// Explicitly add custom labels and annotations to be tested
+		PodLabels: map[string]string{
+			"spectrocloud.com/connection": "proxy", // Tests appending custom labels (Issue #9435)
+			"azure.workload.identity/use": "true",  // Tests overwriting built-in labels
+		},
+		PodAnnotations: map[string]string{
+			"test-data-mover-annotation": "true",
+		},
 	},
 	nodeAgentConfigMapName: "node-agent-config",
 })
@@ -247,6 +255,16 @@ func (n *NodeAgentConfigTestCase) Backup() error {
 	// but we can verify if the expected affinity is contained in the pod affinity.
 	Expect(backupPodList.Items[0].Spec.Affinity.String()).To(ContainSubstring(expectedLabelKey))
 
+	// Verify PodLabels
+	for k, v := range n.nodeAgentConfigs.PodLabels {
+		Expect(backupPodList.Items[0].Labels[k]).To(Equal(v))
+	}
+
+	// Verify PodAnnotations
+	for k, v := range n.nodeAgentConfigs.PodAnnotations {
+		Expect(backupPodList.Items[0].Annotations[k]).To(Equal(v))
+	}
+
 	fmt.Println("backupPod content verification completed successfully.")
 
 	wait.PollUntilContextTimeout(n.Ctx, 5*time.Second, 5*time.Minute, true, func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
@@ -328,6 +346,16 @@ func (n *NodeAgentConfigTestCase) Restore() error {
 	// but we can verify if the expected affinity is contained in the pod affinity.
 	Expect(restorePodList.Items[0].Spec.Affinity.String()).To(ContainSubstring(expectedLabelKey))
 
+	// Verify PodLabels
+	for k, v := range n.nodeAgentConfigs.PodLabels {
+		Expect(restorePodList.Items[0].Labels[k]).To(Equal(v))
+	}
+
+	// Verify PodAnnotations
+	for k, v := range n.nodeAgentConfigs.PodAnnotations {
+		Expect(restorePodList.Items[0].Annotations[k]).To(Equal(v))
+	}
+
 	fmt.Println("restorePod content verification completed successfully.")
 
 	wait.PollUntilContextTimeout(n.Ctx, 5*time.Second, 5*time.Minute, true, func(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {