diff --git a/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/scheduler/JobGenerator.scala b/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/scheduler/JobGenerator.scala
index 86f069b0bd609..f47cab582ddae 100644
--- a/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/scheduler/JobGenerator.scala
+++ b/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/scheduler/JobGenerator.scala
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ class JobGenerator(jobScheduler: JobScheduler) extends Logging {
   }
 
   private val timer = new RecurringTimer(clock, ssc.graph.batchDuration.milliseconds,
-    longTime => eventLoop.post(GenerateJobs(new Time(longTime))), "JobGenerator")
+    longTime => eventLoop.post(GenerateJobs(new Time(longTime))), "JobGenerator", ssc.sparkContext.getConf.getLong("spark.streaming.starttime.jitter", 0))
 
   // This is marked lazy so that this is initialized after checkpoint duration has been set
   // in the context and the generator has been started.
diff --git a/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/util/RecurringTimer.scala b/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/util/RecurringTimer.scala
index 62e681e3e9646..012d252e5a9e4 100644
--- a/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/util/RecurringTimer.scala
+++ b/streaming/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/util/RecurringTimer.scala
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import org.apache.spark.internal.Logging
 import org.apache.spark.util.{Clock, SystemClock}
 
 private[streaming]
-class RecurringTimer(clock: Clock, period: Long, callback: (Long) => Unit, name: String)
+class RecurringTimer(clock: Clock, period: Long, callback: (Long) => Unit, name: String, jitter: Long = 0)
   extends Logging {
 
   private val thread = new Thread("RecurringTimer - " + name) {
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ class RecurringTimer(clock: Clock, period: Long, callback: (Long) => Unit, name:
    * current system time.
    */
   def getStartTime(): Long = {
-    (math.floor(clock.getTimeMillis().toDouble / period) + 1).toLong * period
+    (math.floor(clock.getTimeMillis().toDouble / period) + 1).toLong * period + jitter
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/streaming/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/util/RecurringTimerSuite.scala b/streaming/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/util/RecurringTimerSuite.scala
index 25b70a3d089ee..bc4b6fd4c3d0d 100644
--- a/streaming/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/util/RecurringTimerSuite.scala
+++ b/streaming/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/streaming/util/RecurringTimerSuite.scala
@@ -82,4 +82,35 @@ class RecurringTimerSuite extends SparkFunSuite with PrivateMethodTester {
     assert(results.asScala.toSeq === Seq(0L, 100L, 200L))
     assert(lastTime === 200L)
   }
+
+  test("SPARK-14230: add a start time jitter for the RecurringTimer") {
+    val jitter = 10
+    val period = 100
+    val clock = new ManualClock()
+    val results = new ConcurrentLinkedQueue[Long]()
+    val timer = new RecurringTimer(clock, period, time => {
+      results.add(time)
+    }, "RecurringTimerSuite-jitter", jitter)
+
+    assert(timer.getStartTime() === period + jitter)
+    timer.start()
+    clock.advance(jitter)
+    clock.advance(period)
+    eventually(timeout(10.seconds), interval(10.millis)) {
+      assert(results.asScala.toSeq === Seq(jitter + period))
+    }
+    clock.advance(period)
+    eventually(timeout(10.seconds), interval(10.millis)) {
+      assert(results.asScala.toSeq === Seq(jitter + period, jitter + period * 2))
+    }
+    clock.advance(period * 2)
+    eventually(timeout(10.seconds), interval(10.millis)) {
+      assert(results.asScala.toSeq === Seq(jitter + period,
+                                           jitter + period * 2,
+                                           jitter + period * 3,
+                                           jitter + period * 4))
+    }
+
+    assert(timer.stop(interruptTimer = true) === (jitter + period * 4))
+  }
 }