diff --git a/app/server/management/commands/create_admin.py b/app/server/management/commands/create_admin.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a6b8c413
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/server/management/commands/create_admin.py
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+from django.contrib.auth.management.commands import createsuperuser
+from django.core.management import CommandError
+
+
+class Command(createsuperuser.Command):
+    help = 'Non-interactively create an admin user'
+
+    def add_arguments(self, parser):
+        super(Command, self).add_arguments(parser)
+        parser.add_argument('--password', default=None,
+                            help='The password for the admin.')
+
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        password = options.get('password')
+        username = options.get('username')
+
+        if password and not username:
+            raise CommandError('--username is required if specifying --password')
+
+        super(Command, self).handle(*args, **options)
+
+        if password:
+            database = options.get('database')
+            db = self.UserModel._default_manager.db_manager(database)
+            user = db.get(username=username)
+            user.set_password(password)
+            user.save()
diff --git a/azuredeploy.json b/azuredeploy.json
index b44b7ed6..bdf845b4 100644
--- a/azuredeploy.json
+++ b/azuredeploy.json
@@ -20,14 +20,21 @@
       "type": "string",
       "minLength":  1,
       "metadata": {
-        "description": "The user name for the Postgres administrator"
+        "description": "The user name for the admin account."
+      }
+    },
+    "adminContactEmail":{
+      "type": "string",
+      "minLength":  1,
+      "metadata": {
+        "description": "The contact email address for the admin account."
       }
     },
     "adminPassword":{
       "type": "securestring",
       "minLength": 16,
       "metadata": {
-        "description": "The password for the Postgres administrator"
+        "description": "The password for the admin account."
       }
     },
     "appServiceSku": {
@@ -93,6 +100,7 @@
     "databaseConnectionString": "[concat('pgsql://', parameters('adminUserName'), '@', variables('databaseServerName'), ':', parameters('adminPassword'), '@', variables('databaseServerName'), '.postgres.database.azure.com:5432/', parameters('databaseName'))]",
     "databaseVersion": "9.6",
     "databaseServerName": "[concat(parameters('appName'),'-state')]",
+    "setupScriptName": "[concat(parameters('appName'),'-setup')]",
     "appServicePlanName": "[concat(parameters('appName'),'-hosting')]"
   },
   "resources": [
@@ -156,6 +164,53 @@
         }
       ]
     },
+    {
+      "name": "[variables('setupScriptName')]",
+      "type": "Microsoft.ContainerInstance/containerGroups",
+      "apiVersion": "2018-10-01",
+      "location": "[variables('location')]",
+      "properties": {
+        "containers": [
+          {
+            "name": "createadmin",
+            "properties": {
+              "image": "[parameters('dockerImageName')]",
+              "command": [
+                "tools/create-admin.sh",
+                "[parameters('adminUserName')]",
+                "[parameters('adminContactEmail')]",
+                "[parameters('adminPassword')]"
+              ],
+              "environmentVariables": [
+                {
+                  "name": "DEBUG",
+                  "value": "False"
+                },
+                {
+                  "name": "SECRET_KEY",
+                  "value": "[parameters('secretKey')]"
+                },
+                {
+                  "name": "DATABASE_URL",
+                  "value": "[variables('databaseConnectionString')]"
+                }
+              ],
+              "resources": {
+                "requests": {
+                  "cpu": "1",
+                  "memoryInGb": "1.5"
+                }
+              }
+            }
+          }
+        ],
+        "osType": "Linux",
+        "restartPolicy": "Never"
+      },
+      "dependsOn": [
+        "[resourceId('Microsoft.DBforPostgreSQL/servers/', variables('databaseServerName'))]"
+      ]
+    },
     {
       "type": "Microsoft.Web/sites",
       "apiVersion": "2016-08-01",
diff --git a/tools/create-admin.sh b/tools/create-admin.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..d17e4ddd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/create-admin.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+if [[ "$#" -ne 3 ]]; then echo "Usage: $0 <username> <email> <password>" >&2; exit 1; fi
+
+set -o errexit
+
+python app/manage.py wait_for_db
+python app/manage.py migrate
+python app/manage.py create_admin --noinput --username="$1" --email="$2" --password="$3"