diff --git a/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/main/java/com/ge/research/semtk/load/config/ManifestConfig.java b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/main/java/com/ge/research/semtk/load/config/ManifestConfig.java
index aa390a2b2..54c008992 100644
--- a/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/main/java/com/ge/research/semtk/load/config/ManifestConfig.java
+++ b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/main/java/com/ge/research/semtk/load/config/ManifestConfig.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 package com.ge.research.semtk.load.config;
 
 import java.io.File;
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 
 import org.apache.commons.math3.util.Pair;
@@ -321,17 +322,28 @@ public void load(String server, String serverTypeString, boolean clear, boolean
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * Gets the default top-level manifest file in an unzipped ingestion package
+	 * Gets the top-level manifest file in an unzipped ingestion package.
+	 * This could be baseDir/manifest.yaml OR baseDir/someDir/manifest.yaml, provided that someDir is the only item in baseDir
+	 *
 	 * @param baseDir the directory of the unzipped ingestion package
 	 * @return the file, if it exists
 	 * @throws Exception if the file is not found
 	 */
 	public static File getTopLevelManifestFile(File baseDir) throws Exception {
-		File manifestFile = new File(baseDir.getAbsoluteFile() + File.separator + ManifestConfig.DEFAULT_FILE_NAME);
-		if(!manifestFile.exists()) {
-			throw new Exception(ManifestConfig.DEFAULT_FILE_NAME + " does not exist in " + baseDir);
+
+		String[] topLevelEntries = baseDir.list();
+
+		if(Arrays.asList(topLevelEntries).contains(ManifestConfig.DEFAULT_FILE_NAME)) {
+			// manifest.yaml found at top level
+			return new File(baseDir.getAbsoluteFile() + File.separator + ManifestConfig.DEFAULT_FILE_NAME);
+		}else if(topLevelEntries.length == 1) {
+			// if top level consists of a single directory, then look for manifest.yaml there
+			File f = new File(baseDir.getAbsoluteFile() + File.separator + topLevelEntries[0] + File.separator + ManifestConfig.DEFAULT_FILE_NAME);
+			if(f.exists()) {
+				return f;
+			}
 		}
-		return manifestFile;
+		throw new Exception("Top-level " + ManifestConfig.DEFAULT_FILE_NAME + " does not exist in " + baseDir);
 	}
 
 
diff --git a/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/java/com/ge/research/semtk/load/config/test/ManifestConfigTest.java b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/java/com/ge/research/semtk/load/config/test/ManifestConfigTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..54e3ebcde
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/java/com/ge/research/semtk/load/config/test/ManifestConfigTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+/**
+ ** Copyright 2023 General Electric Company
+ **
+ **
+ ** Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ ** you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ ** You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ ** 
+ **     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ ** 
+ ** Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ ** distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ ** WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ ** See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ ** limitations under the License.
+ */
+package com.ge.research.semtk.load.config.test;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+
+import java.io.File;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import com.ge.research.semtk.load.config.ManifestConfig;
+import com.ge.research.semtk.test.TestGraph;
+
+public class ManifestConfigTest {
+
+	public ManifestConfigTest() throws Exception {
+		super();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void testGetTopLevelManifest() throws Exception{
+
+		File tempDir;
+		File manifestFile;
+		
+		// manifest found at top level
+		tempDir = TestGraph.unzipAndUniquifyJunitGraphs(this, "/config/IngestionPackage.zip");
+		manifestFile = ManifestConfig.getTopLevelManifestFile(tempDir);
+		assertEquals(manifestFile.getName(), "manifest.yaml");
+
+		// manifest found at next-to top level
+		tempDir = TestGraph.unzipAndUniquifyJunitGraphs(this, "/config/IngestionPackage-ExtraDirectory.zip");
+		manifestFile = ManifestConfig.getTopLevelManifestFile(tempDir);
+		assertEquals(manifestFile.getName(), "manifest.yaml");
+
+		// manifest exists at next-to top level, but reject because there are 2 directories at top level
+		File dummyDir = new File(tempDir + File.separator + "dummyDir");
+		dummyDir.createNewFile();
+		try {
+			manifestFile = ManifestConfig.getTopLevelManifestFile(tempDir);
+			fail(); // should not get here
+		}catch(Exception e) {
+			assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("Top-level manifest.yaml does not exist in"));
+		}
+
+		// manifest not found
+		try {
+			tempDir = TestGraph.unzipAndUniquifyJunitGraphs(this, "/config/IngestionPackage-NoManifest.zip");
+			manifestFile = ManifestConfig.getTopLevelManifestFile(tempDir);
+			fail(); // should not get here
+		}catch(Exception e) {
+			assertTrue(e.getMessage().contains("Top-level manifest.yaml does not exist in"));
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/java/com/ge/research/semtk/utility/test/UtilityClientTest_IT.java b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/java/com/ge/research/semtk/utility/test/UtilityClientTest_IT.java
index b9d5acd7c..5c3d1d9e0 100644
--- a/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/java/com/ge/research/semtk/utility/test/UtilityClientTest_IT.java
+++ b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/java/com/ge/research/semtk/utility/test/UtilityClientTest_IT.java
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ public void testLoadIngestionPackage_errorConditions() throws Exception {
 		assertTrue(response.contains("ERROR: This endpoint only accepts ingestion packages in zip file format"));
 
 		// contains no top-level manifest.yaml
-		response = Utility.readToString(client.execLoadIngestionPackage(Utility.getResourceAsTempFile(this,"/config/IngestionPackageNoManifest.zip"), TestGraph.getSparqlServer(), TestGraph.getSparqlServerType(), false, modelFallbackSei.getGraph(), dataFallbackSei.getGraph()));
+		response = Utility.readToString(client.execLoadIngestionPackage(Utility.getResourceAsTempFile(this,"/config/IngestionPackage-NoManifest.zip"), TestGraph.getSparqlServer(), TestGraph.getSparqlServerType(), false, modelFallbackSei.getGraph(), dataFallbackSei.getGraph()));
 		assertTrue(response.contains("ERROR: Cannot find a top-level manifest"));
 	}
 
diff --git a/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/resources/config/IngestionPackage-ExtraDirectory.zip b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/resources/config/IngestionPackage-ExtraDirectory.zip
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..885f018ab
Binary files /dev/null and b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/resources/config/IngestionPackage-ExtraDirectory.zip differ
diff --git a/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/resources/config/IngestionPackageNoManifest.zip b/sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/resources/config/IngestionPackage-NoManifest.zip
similarity index 100%
rename from sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/resources/config/IngestionPackageNoManifest.zip
rename to sparqlGraphLibrary/src/test/resources/config/IngestionPackage-NoManifest.zip