diff --git a/internal/scheduler/nodedb/nodedb.go b/internal/scheduler/nodedb/nodedb.go
index ba74a66fc8d..c8159253c17 100644
--- a/internal/scheduler/nodedb/nodedb.go
+++ b/internal/scheduler/nodedb/nodedb.go
@@ -4,8 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"math"
 	"strings"
-	"sync"
-	"sync/atomic"
 	"text/tabwriter"
 	"time"
 
@@ -27,9 +25,8 @@ import (
 
 var empty struct{}
 
-func (nodeDb *NodeDb) AddNodeToDb(node *internaltypes.Node) {
-	nodeDb.mu.Lock()
-	defer nodeDb.mu.Unlock()
+func (nodeDb *NodeDb) addNodeToStats(node *internaltypes.Node) {
+	nodeDb.numNodes += 1
 	for key := range nodeDb.indexedNodeLabels {
 		if value, ok := node.GetLabelValue(key); ok {
 			nodeDb.indexedNodeLabelValues[key][value] = empty
@@ -42,9 +39,7 @@ func (nodeDb *NodeDb) AddNodeToDb(node *internaltypes.Node) {
 }
 
 func (nodeDb *NodeDb) CreateAndInsertWithJobDbJobsWithTxn(txn *memdb.Txn, jobs []*jobdb.Job, entry *internaltypes.Node) error {
-	_ = atomic.AddUint64(&nodeDb.numNodes, 1)
-
-	nodeDb.AddNodeToDb(entry)
+	nodeDb.addNodeToStats(entry)
 
 	for _, job := range jobs {
 		priority, ok := job.ScheduledAtPriority()
@@ -122,9 +117,6 @@ type NodeDb struct {
 	// If not set, no labels are indexed.
 	indexedNodeLabels map[string]bool
 
-	// Mutex for the remaining fields of this struct, which are mutated after initialization.
-	mu sync.Mutex
-
 	// Map from indexed label names to the set of values that label takes across all nodes in the NodeDb.
 	indexedNodeLabelValues map[string]map[string]struct{}
 	// Total number of nodes in the db.
@@ -305,8 +297,6 @@ func (nodeDb *NodeDb) NumNodes() int {
 }
 
 func (nodeDb *NodeDb) TotalKubernetesResources() internaltypes.ResourceList {
-	nodeDb.mu.Lock()
-	defer nodeDb.mu.Unlock()
 	return nodeDb.totalResources
 }
 
@@ -1126,8 +1116,6 @@ func nodeIndexName(keyIndex int) string {
 // using a cache to avoid allocating new strings when possible.
 func (nodeDb *NodeDb) stringFromPodRequirementsNotMetReason(reason PodRequirementsNotMetReason) string {
 	h := reason.Sum64()
-	nodeDb.mu.Lock()
-	defer nodeDb.mu.Unlock()
 	if s, ok := nodeDb.podRequirementsNotMetReasonStringCache[h]; ok {
 		return s
 	} else {
diff --git a/internal/scheduler/nodedb/nodeiteration_test.go b/internal/scheduler/nodedb/nodeiteration_test.go
index f70b1dce23a..b0f1f5063af 100644
--- a/internal/scheduler/nodedb/nodeiteration_test.go
+++ b/internal/scheduler/nodedb/nodeiteration_test.go
@@ -312,15 +312,15 @@ func TestNodeTypeIterator(t *testing.T) {
 			require.NoError(t, err)
 
 			entries := make([]*internaltypes.Node, len(tc.nodes))
+			txn := nodeDb.Txn(true)
 			for i, node := range tc.nodes {
 				// Set monotonically increasing node IDs to ensure nodes appear in predictable order.
 				newNodeId := fmt.Sprintf("%d", i)
 				entry := testfixtures.WithIdNodes(newNodeId, []*internaltypes.Node{node})[0]
-
-				nodeDb.AddNodeToDb(entry)
+				require.NoError(t, nodeDb.CreateAndInsertWithJobDbJobsWithTxn(txn, nil, entry))
 				entries[i] = entry
 			}
-			require.NoError(t, nodeDb.UpsertMany(entries))
+			txn.Commit()
 
 			indexedResourceRequests := make([]int64, len(testfixtures.TestResources))
 
@@ -639,20 +639,18 @@ func TestNodeTypesIterator(t *testing.T) {
 			nodeDb, err := newNodeDbWithNodes(nil)
 			require.NoError(t, err)
 
+			txn := nodeDb.Txn(true)
 			entries := make([]*internaltypes.Node, len(tc.nodes))
 			for i, node := range tc.nodes {
 				// Set monotonically increasing node IDs to ensure nodes appear in predictable order.
 				nodeId := fmt.Sprintf("%d", i)
 				entry := testfixtures.WithIdNodes(nodeId, []*internaltypes.Node{node})[0]
 				entry = testfixtures.WithIndexNode(uint64(i), entry)
-
 				require.NoError(t, err)
-
-				nodeDb.AddNodeToDb(entry)
-
+				require.NoError(t, nodeDb.CreateAndInsertWithJobDbJobsWithTxn(txn, nil, entry))
 				entries[i] = entry
 			}
-			require.NoError(t, nodeDb.UpsertMany(entries))
+			txn.Commit()
 
 			rr := tc.resourceRequests