diff --git a/jetstream_pt/cli.py b/jetstream_pt/cli.py
index b63fe6a..110d32c 100644
--- a/jetstream_pt/cli.py
+++ b/jetstream_pt/cli.py
@@ -34,11 +34,10 @@
     "if set, then save the result to the given file name",
 )
 flags.DEFINE_bool(
-    "internal_use_local_tokenizer",
-    0,
-    "Use local tokenizer if set to True"
+    "internal_use_local_tokenizer", 0, "Use local tokenizer if set to True"
 )
 
+
 def shard_weights(env, weights, weight_shardings):
   """Shard weights according to weight_shardings"""
   sharded = {}
diff --git a/jetstream_pt/config.py b/jetstream_pt/config.py
index a8a833a..d1e21d9 100644
--- a/jetstream_pt/config.py
+++ b/jetstream_pt/config.py
@@ -49,6 +49,11 @@
 flags.DEFINE_bool(
     "quantize_kv_cache", None, "defaults to the same value as quantize_weights"
 )
+flags.DEFINE_multi_string(
+    "quantize_exclude_layers",
+    None,
+    "List of layer names to exclude from quantization",
+)
 
 _VALID_QUANTIZATION_TYPE = {
     "int8_per_channel",
@@ -178,6 +183,7 @@ def create_quantization_config_from_flags():
   config.is_blockwise_weight = "blockwise" in quantize_type
 
   config.enable_activation_quantization = FLAGS.quantize_activation
+  config.exclude_layers = FLAGS.quantize_exclude_layers
   config.enable_kv_quantization = (
       FLAGS.quantize_kv_cache
       if FLAGS.quantize_kv_cache is not None
diff --git a/jetstream_pt/environment.py b/jetstream_pt/environment.py
index 4917705..6124a76 100644
--- a/jetstream_pt/environment.py
+++ b/jetstream_pt/environment.py
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 
 import dataclasses
-from typing import Tuple
+from typing import List, Tuple, Union
 
 import jax
 import jax.numpy as jnp
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ class QuantizationConfig:
 
   enable_activation_quantization: bool = False
   enable_kv_quantization: bool = False
+  exclude_layers: Union[None, List[str]] = None
 
 
 @dataclasses.dataclass
diff --git a/jetstream_pt/quantize_model.py b/jetstream_pt/quantize_model.py
index 0f37486..79ff278 100644
--- a/jetstream_pt/quantize_model.py
+++ b/jetstream_pt/quantize_model.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import torch
-from absl import flags
+from .environment import QuantizationConfig
 from .layers import (
     create_quantized_from_nn_linear,
     create_quantized_from_nn_embedding,
@@ -8,24 +8,19 @@
 )
 
 
-_QUANTIZE_EMBEDDING = flags.DEFINE_bool(
-    "internal_quantize_embedding_layer",
-    True,
-    "Whether to quantize embedding layer or not. Defaults to true",
-)
-
-
-def quantize_model(float_model, config):
+def quantize_model(float_model, config: QuantizationConfig):
   """Apply quantization to linear layers."""
 
   def quantize_nn_mod(float_model):
     for name, mod in float_model.named_modules():
       new_mod = None
+      if config.exclude_layers and name in config.exclude_layers:
+        continue
       if hasattr(mod, "get_quantized_version"):
         new_mod = mod.get_quantized_version()
       elif isinstance(mod, torch.nn.Linear):
         new_mod = create_quantized_from_nn_linear(mod, config)
-      elif isinstance(mod, torch.nn.Embedding) and _QUANTIZE_EMBEDDING.value:
+      elif isinstance(mod, torch.nn.Embedding):
         new_mod = create_quantized_from_nn_embedding(mod, config)
 
       if new_mod: