diff --git a/projects/implicitron_trainer/configs/repro_singleseq_nerf_blender.yaml b/projects/implicitron_trainer/configs/repro_singleseq_nerf_blender.yaml
index ab77215a..6a3729f8 100644
--- a/projects/implicitron_trainer/configs/repro_singleseq_nerf_blender.yaml
+++ b/projects/implicitron_trainer/configs/repro_singleseq_nerf_blender.yaml
@@ -36,12 +36,13 @@ model_factory_ImplicitronModelFactory_args:
       loss_autodecoder_norm: 0.00
 
 optimizer_factory_ImplicitronOptimizerFactory_args:
-  exponential_lr_step_size: 2500
-  lr_policy: Exponential
+  exponential_lr_step_size: 3001
+  lr_policy: LinearExponential
+  linear_exponential_lr_milestone: 200
 
 training_loop_ImplicitronTrainingLoop_args:
-  max_epochs: 2000
-  metric_print_interval: 100
+  max_epochs: 3201
+  metric_print_interval: 10
   store_checkpoints_purge: 3
   test_when_finished: true
   validation_interval: 100
diff --git a/projects/implicitron_trainer/impl/optimizer_factory.py b/projects/implicitron_trainer/impl/optimizer_factory.py
index 88547481..184adb92 100644
--- a/projects/implicitron_trainer/impl/optimizer_factory.py
+++ b/projects/implicitron_trainer/impl/optimizer_factory.py
@@ -72,6 +72,8 @@ class ImplicitronOptimizerFactory(OptimizerFactoryBase):
     momentum: float = 0.9
     multistep_lr_milestones: tuple = ()
     weight_decay: float = 0.0
+    linear_exponential_lr_milestone: int = 200
+    linear_exponential_start_gamma: float = 0.1
 
     def __post_init__(self):
         run_auto_creation(self)
@@ -156,6 +158,23 @@ class ImplicitronOptimizerFactory(OptimizerFactoryBase):
                 lambda epoch: self.gamma ** (epoch / self.exponential_lr_step_size),
                 verbose=False,
             )
+        elif self.lr_policy.casefold() == "LinearExponential".casefold():
+            # linear learning rate progression between epochs 0 to
+            # self.linear_exponential_lr_milestone, followed by exponential
+            # lr decay for the rest of the epochs
+            def _get_lr(epoch: int):
+                m = self.linear_exponential_lr_milestone
+                if epoch < m:
+                    w = (m - epoch) / m
+                    gamma = w * self.linear_exponential_start_gamma + (1 - w)
+                else:
+                    epoch_rest = epoch - m
+                    gamma = self.gamma ** (epoch_rest / self.exponential_lr_step_size)
+                return gamma
+
+            scheduler = torch.optim.lr_scheduler.LambdaLR(
+                optimizer, _get_lr, verbose=False
+            )
         else:
             raise ValueError("no such lr policy %s" % self.lr_policy)
 
diff --git a/projects/implicitron_trainer/tests/experiment.yaml b/projects/implicitron_trainer/tests/experiment.yaml
index e9b57ba1..f70a3c23 100644
--- a/projects/implicitron_trainer/tests/experiment.yaml
+++ b/projects/implicitron_trainer/tests/experiment.yaml
@@ -402,6 +402,8 @@ optimizer_factory_ImplicitronOptimizerFactory_args:
   momentum: 0.9
   multistep_lr_milestones: []
   weight_decay: 0.0
+  linear_exponential_lr_milestone: 200
+  linear_exponential_start_gamma: 0.1
 training_loop_ImplicitronTrainingLoop_args:
   eval_only: false
   evaluator_class_type: ImplicitronEvaluator