diff --git a/src/toil/jobStores/aws/jobStore.py b/src/toil/jobStores/aws/jobStore.py
index 74958a2d77..6a4d40eac9 100644
--- a/src/toil/jobStores/aws/jobStore.py
+++ b/src/toil/jobStores/aws/jobStore.py
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
 from toil.jobStores.utils import ReadablePipe, ReadableTransformingPipe, WritablePipe
 from toil.lib.aws import build_tag_dict_from_env
 from toil.lib.aws.session import establish_boto3_session
+from toil.lib.aws.s3 import head_s3_object
 from toil.lib.aws.utils import (
     NoBucketLocationError,
     boto3_pager,
@@ -1418,15 +1419,11 @@ def readFrom(self, readable):
 
                             if info.version is None:
                                 # Somehow we don't know the version. Try and get it.
-                                for attempt in retry_s3(predicate=lambda e: retryable_s3_errors(e) or isinstance(e, AssertionError)):
-                                    with attempt:
-                                        version = client.head_object(Bucket=bucket_name,
-                                                                     Key=compat_bytes(info.fileID),
-                                                                     **headerArgs).get('VersionId', None)
-                                        logger.warning('Loaded key for upload with no version and got version %s',
-                                                       str(version))
-                                        info.version = version
-                                        assert info.version is not None
+                                info.version = head_s3_object(
+                                    Bucket=bucket_name,
+                                    Key=compat_bytes(info.fileID),
+                                    **headerArgs
+                                ).get('VersionId', None)
 
                     # Make sure we actually wrote something, even if an empty file
                     assert (bool(info.version) or info.content is not None)
@@ -1467,23 +1464,21 @@ def readFrom(self, readable):
                                                       ExtraArgs=headerArgs)
 
                                 # use head_object with the SSE headers to access versionId and content_length attributes
-                                headObj = client.head_object(Bucket=bucket_name,
-                                                             Key=compat_bytes(info.fileID),
-                                                             **headerArgs)
-                                assert dataLength == headObj.get('ContentLength', None)
-                                info.version = headObj.get('VersionId', None)
+                                resp = head_s3_object(
+                                    Bucket=bucket_name,
+                                    Key=compat_bytes(info.fileID),
+                                    **headerArgs
+                                )
+                                assert dataLength == resp.get('ContentLength', None)
+                                info.version = resp.get('VersionId', None)
                                 logger.debug('Upload received version %s', str(info.version))
 
                         if info.version is None:
                             # Somehow we don't know the version
-                            for attempt in retry_s3(predicate=lambda e: retryable_s3_errors(e) or isinstance(e, AssertionError)):
-                                with attempt:
-                                    headObj = client.head_object(Bucket=bucket_name,
-                                                                 Key=compat_bytes(info.fileID),
-                                                                 **headerArgs)
-                                    info.version = headObj.get('VersionId', None)
-                                    logger.warning('Reloaded key with no version and got version %s', str(info.version))
-                                    assert info.version is not None
+                            resp = head_s3_object(Bucket=bucket_name, Key=compat_bytes(info.fileID), header=headerArgs)
+                            info.version = resp.get('VersionId', None)
+                            logger.warning('Reloaded key with no version and got version %s', str(info.version))
+                            assert info.version is not None
 
                     # Make sure we actually wrote something, even if an empty file
                     assert (bool(info.version) or info.content is not None)
diff --git a/src/toil/lib/aws/s3.py b/src/toil/lib/aws/s3.py
index 77cb94d56e..78cc5cc461 100644
--- a/src/toil/lib/aws/s3.py
+++ b/src/toil/lib/aws/s3.py
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 import logging
-from typing import List
+from typing import Dict, Any, Optional, List
 
-from mypy_boto3_s3.type_defs import ListMultipartUploadsOutputTypeDef
+from mypy_boto3_s3.type_defs import ListMultipartUploadsOutputTypeDef, HeadObjectOutputTypeDef
 
 from toil.lib.aws import session, AWSServerErrors
 from toil.lib.retry import retry
@@ -23,6 +23,20 @@
 
 
 @retry(errors=[AWSServerErrors])
+def head_s3_object(bucket: str, key: str, header: Dict[str, Any], region: Optional[str] = None) -> HeadObjectOutputTypeDef:
+    """
+    Attempt to HEAD an s3 object and return its response.
+
+    :param bucket: AWS bucket name
+    :param key:  AWS Key name for the s3 object
+    :param header: Headers to include (mostly for encryption).
+        See: https://boto3.amazonaws.com/v1/documentation/api/latest/reference/services/s3/client/head_object.html
+    :param region: Region that we want to look for the bucket in
+    """
+    s3_client = session.client("s3", region_name=region)
+    return s3_client.head_object(Bucket=bucket, Key=key, **header)
+
+
 def list_multipart_uploads(bucket: str, region: str, prefix: str, max_uploads: int = 1) -> ListMultipartUploadsOutputTypeDef:
     s3_client = session.client("s3", region_name=region)
     return s3_client.list_multipart_uploads(Bucket=bucket, MaxUploads=max_uploads, Prefix=prefix)