diff --git a/pkg/ruler/scheduler.go b/pkg/ruler/scheduler.go
index cc03d845e9f..766ff16acf0 100644
--- a/pkg/ruler/scheduler.go
+++ b/pkg/ruler/scheduler.go
@@ -3,6 +3,9 @@ package ruler
 import (
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
+	"hash"
+	"hash/fnv"
+	"math"
 	"sync"
 	"time"
 
@@ -180,9 +183,28 @@ func (s *scheduler) poll() (map[string]configs.VersionedRulesConfig, error) {
 	return cfgs, nil
 }
 
+// computeNextEvalTime Computes when a user's rules should be next evaluated, based on how far we are through an evaluation cycle
+func (s *scheduler) computeNextEvalTime(hasher hash.Hash64, now time.Time, userID string) time.Time {
+	intervalNanos := float64(s.evaluationInterval.Nanoseconds())
+	// Compute how far we are into the current evaluation cycle
+	currentEvalCyclePoint := math.Mod(float64(now.UnixNano()), intervalNanos)
+
+	hasher.Reset()
+	hasher.Write([]byte(userID))
+	offset := math.Mod(
+		// We subtract our current point in the cycle to cause the entries
+		// before 'now' to wrap around to the end.
+		// We don't want this to come out negative, so we add the interval to it
+		float64(hasher.Sum64())+intervalNanos-currentEvalCyclePoint,
+		intervalNanos)
+	return now.Add(time.Duration(int64(offset)))
+}
+
 func (s *scheduler) addNewConfigs(now time.Time, cfgs map[string]configs.VersionedRulesConfig) {
 	// TODO: instrument how many configs we have, both valid & invalid.
 	level.Debug(util.Logger).Log("msg", "adding configurations", "num_configs", len(cfgs))
+	hasher := fnv.New64a()
+
 	for userID, config := range cfgs {
 		rulesByFilename, err := config.Config.Parse()
 		if err != nil {
@@ -203,9 +225,10 @@ func (s *scheduler) addNewConfigs(now time.Time, cfgs map[string]configs.Version
 		}
 		s.Unlock()
 		if !config.IsDeleted() {
+			evalTime := s.computeNextEvalTime(hasher, now, userID)
 			for fn, rules := range rulesByFilename {
 				level.Debug(util.Logger).Log("msg", "scheduler: updating rules for user and filename", "user_id", userID, "filename", fn, "num_rules", len(rules))
-				s.addWorkItem(workItem{userID, fn, rules, now})
+				s.addWorkItem(workItem{userID, fn, rules, evalTime})
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/ruler/scheduler_test.go b/pkg/ruler/scheduler_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..41a8bdeb9eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/ruler/scheduler_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+package ruler
+
+import (
+	"strconv"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+)
+
+type fakeHasher struct {
+	something uint32
+	data      *[]byte
+}
+
+func (h *fakeHasher) Write(data []byte) (int, error) {
+	h.data = &data
+	return len(data), nil
+}
+func (h *fakeHasher) Reset() {
+	h.data = nil
+}
+func (h *fakeHasher) Size() int {
+	return 0
+}
+func (h *fakeHasher) BlockSize() int {
+	return 64
+}
+func (h *fakeHasher) Sum([]byte) []byte {
+	return []byte{}
+}
+func (h *fakeHasher) Sum64() uint64 {
+	i, _ := strconv.ParseUint(string(*h.data), 10, 64)
+	return i
+}
+
+func TestSchedulerComputeNextEvalTime(t *testing.T) {
+	h := fakeHasher{}
+	// normal intervals are in seconds; this is nanoseconds for the test
+	s := scheduler{evaluationInterval: 15}
+	evalTime := func(now, hashResult int64) int64 {
+		// We use the fake hasher to give us control over the hash output
+		// so that we can test the wrap-around behaviour of the modulo
+		fakeUserID := strconv.FormatInt(hashResult, 10)
+		return s.computeNextEvalTime(&h, time.Unix(0, now), fakeUserID).UnixNano()
+	}
+	{
+		cycleStartTime := int64(30)
+		cycleOffset := int64(0) // cycleStartTime % s.evaluationInterval
+		// Check simple case where hash >= current cycle position
+		assert.Equal(t, cycleStartTime+0, evalTime(cycleStartTime, cycleOffset+0))
+		assert.Equal(t, cycleStartTime+1, evalTime(cycleStartTime, cycleOffset+1))
+		assert.Equal(t, cycleStartTime+14, evalTime(cycleStartTime, cycleOffset+14))
+		// Check things are cyclic
+		assert.Equal(t, evalTime(cycleStartTime, 0), evalTime(cycleStartTime, int64(s.evaluationInterval)))
+	}
+	{
+		midCycleTime := int64(35)
+		cycleOffset := int64(5) // midCycleTime % s.evaluationInterval
+		// Check case where hash can be either greater or less than current cycle position
+		assert.Equal(t, midCycleTime+0, evalTime(midCycleTime, cycleOffset+0))
+		assert.Equal(t, midCycleTime+1, evalTime(midCycleTime, cycleOffset+1))
+		assert.Equal(t, midCycleTime+9, evalTime(midCycleTime, cycleOffset+9))
+		assert.Equal(t, midCycleTime+10, evalTime(midCycleTime, cycleOffset-5))
+		assert.Equal(t, midCycleTime+14, evalTime(midCycleTime, cycleOffset-1))
+	}
+}