diff --git a/recipes/configs/llama4/scout_17B_16E_full.yaml b/recipes/configs/llama4/scout_17B_16E_full.yaml
index 9b2e923f71..855834241e 100644
--- a/recipes/configs/llama4/scout_17B_16E_full.yaml
+++ b/recipes/configs/llama4/scout_17B_16E_full.yaml
@@ -69,7 +69,14 @@ device: cuda
 enable_activation_checkpointing: True
 enable_activation_offloading: False
 fsdp_cpu_offload: True
-compile: False # torch.compile, set to true for perf/memory improvement
+# compile True means use torch.compile for all components
+# compile False means no torch.compile
+# compile Dictionary with keys: "model", "loss", "optimizer_step"
+# enables torch.compile only for specified components.
+compile: False
+#    model: True
+#    loss: True
+#    optimizer_step: False
 
 # Reduced precision
 dtype: bf16
diff --git a/recipes/full_finetune_distributed.py b/recipes/full_finetune_distributed.py
index 58b29eb4be..435afede84 100644
--- a/recipes/full_finetune_distributed.py
+++ b/recipes/full_finetune_distributed.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
 
+import os
 import sys
 import time
 
@@ -306,7 +307,18 @@ def setup(self, cfg: DictConfig) -> None:
         # Load the base model
         checkpoint_dict = self._checkpoint_client.load_base_checkpoint()
 
-        self._compile = cfg.get("compile", False)
+        compile = cfg.get("compile")
+        compile_bool = bool(compile)
+        self._compile_backend = os.environ.get("TORCH_COMPILE_BACKEND", "inductor")
+
+        self._compile_model = compile_bool
+        self._compile_loss = compile_bool
+        self._compile_optimizer_step = compile_bool
+        if isinstance(compile, DictConfig):
+            self._compile_model = compile.get("model", True)
+            self._compile_loss = compile.get("loss", True)
+            self._compile_optimizer_step = compile.get("optimizer_step", False)
+
         self._model = self._setup_model(
             cfg_model=cfg.model,
             enable_activation_checkpointing=self._enable_activation_checkpointing,
@@ -329,6 +341,11 @@ def setup(self, cfg: DictConfig) -> None:
                 else None
             ),
         )
+        if self._compile_optimizer_step:
+            self._optimizer.step = torch.compile(
+                self._optimizer.step,
+                backend=self._compile_backend,
+            )
 
         if self._resume_from_checkpoint:
             # If async checkpointing is enabled, intermediate checkpoints are saved asynchronously
@@ -358,7 +375,7 @@ def setup(self, cfg: DictConfig) -> None:
         # initialize loss
         self._loss_fn = config.instantiate(cfg.loss)
 
-        if self._compile:
+        if self._compile_loss:
             training.compile_loss(self._loss_fn, verbose=self._is_rank_zero)
 
         # The loss may handle the output projection. If true, the model should skip it.
@@ -569,7 +586,7 @@ def _setup_model(
         with training.set_default_dtype(self._dtype), torch.device("meta"):
             model = config.instantiate(cfg_model)
 
-        if self._compile:
+        if self._compile_model:
             training.compile_model(model, verbose=self._is_rank_zero)
 
         if self._enable_fp8_training: