diff --git a/extensions/quartz/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/deployment/QuartzProcessor.java b/extensions/quartz/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/deployment/QuartzProcessor.java
index 57c8a380de352..baa5f31e07d94 100644
--- a/extensions/quartz/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/deployment/QuartzProcessor.java
+++ b/extensions/quartz/deployment/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/deployment/QuartzProcessor.java
@@ -206,7 +206,7 @@ List<ReflectiveClassBuildItem> reflectiveClasses(QuartzBuildTimeConfig config,
             QuartzJDBCDriverDialectBuildItem driverDialect) {
         List<ReflectiveClassBuildItem> reflectiveClasses = new ArrayList<>();
 
-        if (config.serializeJobData().orElse(false)) {
+        if (config.serializeJobData()) {
             reflectiveClasses.add(ReflectiveClassBuildItem.builder(
                     String.class,
                     JobDataMap.class,
diff --git a/extensions/quartz/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/runtime/QuartzBuildTimeConfig.java b/extensions/quartz/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/runtime/QuartzBuildTimeConfig.java
index a21fdd41c79a4..10442f7b7e05d 100644
--- a/extensions/quartz/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/runtime/QuartzBuildTimeConfig.java
+++ b/extensions/quartz/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/runtime/QuartzBuildTimeConfig.java
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ public interface QuartzBuildTimeConfig {
      * This is equivalent of setting `org.quartz.jobStore.useProperties` to `true`.
      */
     @WithDefault("false")
-    Optional<Boolean> serializeJobData();
+    boolean serializeJobData();
 
     /**
      * Instance ID generators.
diff --git a/extensions/quartz/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/runtime/QuartzSchedulerImpl.java b/extensions/quartz/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/runtime/QuartzSchedulerImpl.java
index 0100eafabf819..6a919c9200d67 100644
--- a/extensions/quartz/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/runtime/QuartzSchedulerImpl.java
+++ b/extensions/quartz/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/quartz/runtime/QuartzSchedulerImpl.java
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ public QuartzSchedulerImpl(SchedulerContext context, QuartzSupport quartzSupport
         this.schedulerConfig = schedulerConfig;
         this.storeType = quartzSupport.getBuildTimeConfig().storeType();
 
-        StartMode startMode = schedulerRuntimeConfig.startMode().orElse(StartMode.NORMAL);
+        StartMode startMode = schedulerRuntimeConfig.startMode();
 
         boolean forceStart;
         if (startMode != StartMode.NORMAL) {
@@ -594,7 +594,7 @@ private Properties getSchedulerConfigurationProperties(QuartzSupport quartzSuppo
         if (buildTimeConfig.storeType().isDbStore()) {
             String dataSource = buildTimeConfig.dataSourceName().orElse("QUARKUS_QUARTZ_DEFAULT_DATASOURCE");
             QuarkusQuartzConnectionPoolProvider.setDataSourceName(dataSource);
-            boolean serializeJobData = buildTimeConfig.serializeJobData().orElse(false);
+            boolean serializeJobData = buildTimeConfig.serializeJobData();
             props.put(StdSchedulerFactory.PROP_JOB_STORE_USE_PROP, serializeJobData ? "false" : "true");
             props.put(StdSchedulerFactory.PROP_JOB_STORE_PREFIX + ".tablePrefix", buildTimeConfig.tablePrefix());
             props.put(StdSchedulerFactory.PROP_JOB_STORE_PREFIX + ".dataSource", dataSource);
diff --git a/extensions/scheduler/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/scheduler/runtime/SchedulerRuntimeConfig.java b/extensions/scheduler/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/scheduler/runtime/SchedulerRuntimeConfig.java
index 5bf250d4fbb9d..70081d0008ebe 100644
--- a/extensions/scheduler/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/scheduler/runtime/SchedulerRuntimeConfig.java
+++ b/extensions/scheduler/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/scheduler/runtime/SchedulerRuntimeConfig.java
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package io.quarkus.scheduler.runtime;
 
 import java.time.Duration;
-import java.util.Optional;
 
 import io.quarkus.runtime.annotations.ConfigPhase;
 import io.quarkus.runtime.annotations.ConfigRoot;
@@ -29,7 +28,8 @@ public interface SchedulerRuntimeConfig {
      * Scheduler can be started in different modes. By default, the scheduler is not started unless a
      * {@link io.quarkus.scheduler.Scheduled} business method is found.
      */
-    Optional<StartMode> startMode();
+    @WithDefault("normal")
+    StartMode startMode();
 
     enum StartMode {
 
diff --git a/extensions/scheduler/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/scheduler/runtime/SimpleScheduler.java b/extensions/scheduler/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/scheduler/runtime/SimpleScheduler.java
index 38ffda8ceb42f..fb7a01d323f4b 100644
--- a/extensions/scheduler/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/scheduler/runtime/SimpleScheduler.java
+++ b/extensions/scheduler/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/scheduler/runtime/SimpleScheduler.java
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ public SimpleScheduler(SchedulerContext context, SchedulerRuntimeConfig schedule
             return;
         }
 
-        StartMode startMode = schedulerRuntimeConfig.startMode().orElse(StartMode.NORMAL);
+        StartMode startMode = schedulerRuntimeConfig.startMode();
         if (startMode == StartMode.NORMAL && context.getScheduledMethods(Scheduled.SIMPLE).isEmpty()
                 && !context.forceSchedulerStart()) {
             this.scheduledExecutor = null;