diff --git a/awxkit/awxkit/ws.py b/awxkit/awxkit/ws.py
index 8005a8ef66..11668641bd 100644
--- a/awxkit/awxkit/ws.py
+++ b/awxkit/awxkit/ws.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import logging
 import atexit
 import json
 import ssl
+from datetime import datetime
 
 from six.moves.queue import Queue, Empty
 from six.moves.urllib.parse import urlparse
@@ -93,6 +94,7 @@ class WSClient(object):
                                          cookie=auth_cookie)
         self._message_cache = []
         self._should_subscribe_to_pending_job = False
+        self._pending_unsubscribe = threading.Event()
 
     def connect(self):
         wst = threading.Thread(target=self._ws_run_forever, args=(self.ws, {"cert_reqs": ssl.CERT_NONE}))
@@ -184,11 +186,17 @@ class WSClient(object):
         payload['xrftoken'] = self.csrftoken
         self._send(json.dumps(payload))
 
-    def unsubscribe(self):
-        self._send(json.dumps(dict(groups={}, xrftoken=self.csrftoken)))
-        # it takes time for the unsubscribe event to be recieved and consumed and for
-        # messages to stop being put on the queue for daphne to send to us
-        time.sleep(5)
+    def unsubscribe(self, wait=True, timeout=10):
+        time_start = datetime.now()
+        if wait:
+            # Other unnsubscribe events could have caused the edge to trigger.
+            # This way the _next_ event will trigger our waiting.
+            self._pending_unsubscribe.clear()
+            self._send(json.dumps(dict(groups={}, xrftoken=self.csrftoken)))
+            if not self._pending_unsubscribe.wait(timeout):
+                raise RuntimeError(f"Failed while waiting on unsubscribe reply because timeout of {timeout} seconds was reached.")
+        else:
+            self._send(json.dumps(dict(groups={}, xrftoken=self.csrftoken)))
 
     def _on_message(self, message):
         message = json.loads(message)
@@ -202,6 +210,10 @@ class WSClient(object):
                     self._should_subscribe_to_pending_job['events'] == 'project_update_events'):
                 self._update_subscription(message['unified_job_id'])
 
+        # unsubscribe acknowledgement
+        if 'groups_current' in message:
+            self._pending_unsubscribe.set()
+
         return self._recv_queue.put(message)
 
     def _update_subscription(self, job_id):