diff --git a/src/dvsim/launcher/slurm.py b/src/dvsim/launcher/slurm.py
index 12d36b41..3fe61b7c 100644
--- a/src/dvsim/launcher/slurm.py
+++ b/src/dvsim/launcher/slurm.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ def __init__(self, deploy) -> None:
 
         # Popen object when launching the job.
         self.process = None
+        self._log_file = None
         self.slurm_log_file = f"{self.job_spec.log_path}.slurm"
 
     def _do_launch(self) -> None:
@@ -57,34 +58,35 @@ def _do_launch(self) -> None:
             slurm_setup_cmd += ";"
 
         # Encapsulate the run command with the slurm invocation
+        full_cmd = f"{slurm_setup_cmd} {self.job_spec.cmd}".strip()
         slurm_cmd = (
-            f"srun -p {SLURM_QUEUE} --mem={SLURM_MEM} --mincpus={SLURM_MINCPUS} "
+            f"srun -p {SLURM_QUEUE} --mem={SLURM_MEM} "
+            f"--mincpus={SLURM_MINCPUS} "
             f"--time={SLURM_TIMEOUT} --cpus-per-task={SLURM_CPUS_PER_TASK} "
-            f'bash -c "{slurm_setup_cmd} {self.job_spec.cmd}"'
+            f"bash -c {shlex.quote(full_cmd)}"
         )
 
         try:
-            with pathlib.Path(self.slurm_log_file).open("w") as out_file:
-                out_file.write(f"[Executing]:\n{self.job_spec.cmd}\n\n")
-                out_file.flush()
-
-                log.info(f"Executing slurm command: {slurm_cmd}")
-                self.process = subprocess.Popen(
-                    shlex.split(slurm_cmd),
-                    bufsize=4096,
-                    universal_newlines=True,
-                    stdout=out_file,
-                    stderr=out_file,
-                    env=exports,
-                )
+            self._log_file = pathlib.Path(self.slurm_log_file).open("w")
+            self._log_file.write(f"[Executing]:\n{self.job_spec.cmd}\n\n")
+            self._log_file.flush()
+
+            log.info(f"Executing slurm command: {slurm_cmd}")
+            self.process = subprocess.Popen(
+                shlex.split(slurm_cmd),
+                text=True,
+                stdout=self._log_file,
+                stderr=self._log_file,
+                env=exports,
+            )
         except OSError as e:
+            self._close_log_file()
             msg = f"File Error: {e}\nError while handling {self.slurm_log_file}"
             raise LauncherError(msg)
         except subprocess.SubprocessError as e:
+            self._close_log_file()
             msg = f"IO Error: {e}\nSee {self.job_spec.log_path}"
             raise LauncherError(msg)
-        finally:
-            self._close_process()
 
     def poll(self) -> JobStatus:
         """Check status of the running process.
@@ -139,19 +141,24 @@ def kill(self) -> None:
         except subprocess.TimeoutExpired:
             self.process.kill()
         self._post_finish(
-            JobStatus.KILLED, ErrorMessage(line_number=None, message="Job killed!", context=[])
+            JobStatus.KILLED,
+            ErrorMessage(
+                line_number=None,
+                message="Job killed!",
+                context=[],
+            ),
         )
 
     def _post_finish(self, status, err_msg) -> None:
+        self._close_log_file()
         super()._post_finish(status, err_msg)
-        self._close_process()
         self.process = None
 
-    def _close_process(self) -> None:
-        """Close the file descriptors associated with the process."""
-        assert self.process
-        if self.process.stdout:
-            self.process.stdout.close()
+    def _close_log_file(self) -> None:
+        """Close the log file if it is open."""
+        if self._log_file:
+            self._log_file.close()
+            self._log_file = None
 
     @staticmethod
     def prepare_workspace(cfg: "WorkspaceConfig") -> None: