diff --git a/RemoteSettings.Dockerfile b/RemoteSettings.Dockerfile
index 892941a4..7b5735e3 100644
--- a/RemoteSettings.Dockerfile
+++ b/RemoteSettings.Dockerfile
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ WORKDIR /opt
 COPY ./uv.lock ./pyproject.toml ./
 COPY ./kinto-slack ./kinto-slack
 RUN uv venv $VIRTUAL_ENV
-RUN uv sync --frozen --no-install-project --no-editable \
+RUN uv sync --frozen --compile-bytecode --no-install-project --no-editable \
     --no-group kinto-remote-settings \
     --no-group cronjobs \
     --no-group git-reader \
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ RUN uv sync --frozen --no-install-project --no-editable \
     --no-group docs
 
 COPY ./kinto-remote-settings ./kinto-remote-settings
-RUN uv sync --frozen --no-install-project --no-editable \
+RUN uv sync --frozen --compile-bytecode --no-install-project --no-editable \
     --group kinto-remote-settings \
     --no-group cronjobs \
     --no-group git-reader \
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ COPY --chown=app:app . .
 
 COPY --from=get-admin /opt/kinto-admin/build $KINTO_ADMIN_ASSETS_PATH
 
+# Compile app bytecode to speed up startup time.
+RUN python -m compileall -q /app
+
 # Generate local key pair to simplify running without Autograph out of the box (see `config/testing.ini`)
 RUN python -m kinto_remote_settings.signer.generate_keypair /app/ecdsa.private.pem /app/ecdsa.public.pem
 
diff --git a/git-reader/Dockerfile b/git-reader/Dockerfile
index d0cd7b58..5272fcd2 100644
--- a/git-reader/Dockerfile
+++ b/git-reader/Dockerfile
@@ -23,11 +23,13 @@ RUN mkdir /app/.ssh && \
 COPY --chown=app:app pyproject.toml uv.lock ./
 COPY --chown=app:app version.json .
 
-RUN uv sync --frozen --no-install-project
+RUN uv sync --frozen --compile-bytecode --no-install-project
 
 COPY --chown=app:app run.sh .
 RUN chmod +x run.sh
 COPY --chown=app:app app.py mimetypes.txt ./
+# Compile app bytecode to speed up startup time.
+RUN python -m compileall -q /app
 
 USER app
 
diff --git a/kinto-remote-settings/src/kinto_remote_settings/signer/utils.py b/kinto-remote-settings/src/kinto_remote_settings/signer/utils.py
index 221306b1..88e7c05c 100644
--- a/kinto-remote-settings/src/kinto_remote_settings/signer/utils.py
+++ b/kinto-remote-settings/src/kinto_remote_settings/signer/utils.py
@@ -6,9 +6,6 @@
 from typing import Any
 from urllib.parse import urlparse
 
-import cryptography
-import cryptography.x509
-from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend as crypto_default_backend
 from kinto.core.events import ACTIONS
 from kinto.core.storage.exceptions import UnicityError
 from kinto.core.utils import build_request, instance_uri, read_env
@@ -309,6 +306,13 @@ def fetch_cert(url):
     """
     Returns the SSL certificate object for the specified `url`.
     """
+    # Import lazily to reduce startup time for the application
+    # since cryptography is a heavy dependency (200ms import time!)
+    # and `fetch_cert()` is only used in healthcheck.
+    import cryptography
+    import cryptography.x509
+    from cryptography.hazmat.backends import default_backend as crypto_default_backend
+
     parsed_url = urlparse(url)
     host, port = (parsed_url.netloc, parsed_url.port or 443)
     cert_pem = ssl.get_server_certificate((host, port))