diff --git a/iprbench/clusterbench.py b/iprbench/clusterbench.py
index 942047c..98f856b 100755
--- a/iprbench/clusterbench.py
+++ b/iprbench/clusterbench.py
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@ def launch_job_for_host_group(benchmark: IBenchmark, benchmark_config: Benchmark
         '<iprbench_venv_archive_path>': str(job_venv_archive_path),
         '<benchmark_config>': json.dumps(benchmark_config).replace('"', r'\"'),
         '<results_dir>': str(results_dir),
-        '<num_cores>': num_cores,
+        '<num_cores>': str(num_cores),
     }
     logging.debug('tags_dict = %s', str(tags_dict))
     with importlib.resources.path('iprbench.resources', 'clusterbench-template.job') as job_template_path:
diff --git a/test/test_clusterbench.py b/test/test_clusterbench.py
index d05ccf2..f8a2971 100644
--- a/test/test_clusterbench.py
+++ b/test/test_clusterbench.py
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ class ClusterBenchTestCase(unittest.TestCase):
             'test_id': 'arch4_quick',
             'hibridon_version': 'a3bed1c3ccfbca572003020d3e3d3b1ff3934fad',
             'cmake_path': 'cmake',
-            'num_cores': 2,
         }
         command = f'clusterbench-submit --cluster-id \'dummy\' --benchmark-id \'hibench\' --config \'{json.dumps(config)}\' --results-dir /tmp/hibench_out'
         subprocess.run(command, shell=True, check=True, executable='/bin/bash')