diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4e062966..73638d07 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -8,7 +8,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
 - Refactor: move server configuration properties from the command line to configuration files. ([#911]).
 
+### Removed
+
+- Refactor: remove unused RBAC cluster role ([#914]).
+
 [#911]: https://github.com/stackabletech/kafka-operator/pull/911
+[#914]: https://github.com/stackabletech/kafka-operator/pull/914
 
 ## [25.11.0] - 2025-11-07
 
diff --git a/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/templates/deployment.yaml b/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/templates/deployment.yaml
index c12fc872..4601af6f 100644
--- a/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/templates/deployment.yaml
+++ b/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/templates/deployment.yaml
@@ -79,8 +79,6 @@ spec:
               value: {{ .Values.kubernetesClusterDomain | quote }}
             {{- end }}
             {{- include "telemetry.envVars" . | nindent 12 }}
-            - name: KAFKA_BROKER_CLUSTERROLE
-              value: {{ include "operator.fullname" . }}-kafka-broker-clusterrole
       volumes:
         - name: config-spec
           configMap:
diff --git a/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/templates/roles-kafka.yaml b/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/templates/roles-kafka.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index d1497b4f..00000000
--- a/deploy/helm/kafka-operator/templates/roles-kafka.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
-kind: ClusterRole
-metadata:
-  name: {{ include "operator.fullname" . }}-kafka-broker-clusterrole
-rules: []
diff --git a/rust/operator-binary/src/main.rs b/rust/operator-binary/src/main.rs
index 4a3da6e3..aafb0717 100644
--- a/rust/operator-binary/src/main.rs
+++ b/rust/operator-binary/src/main.rs
@@ -61,8 +61,6 @@ struct Opts {
 
 #[derive(clap::Parser)]
 struct KafkaRun {
-    #[clap(long, env)]
-    kafka_broker_clusterrole: String,
     #[clap(flatten)]
     common: RunArguments,
 }
@@ -198,10 +196,6 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
-pub struct ControllerConfig {
-    pub broker_clusterrole: String,
-}
-
 fn references_config_map(
     kafka: &DeserializeGuard<v1alpha1::KafkaCluster>,
     config_map: &DeserializeGuard<ConfigMap>,