A method, system, and computer program product for identity-aware load balancing are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A sender of a packet is identified using an attribute communicated with the packet. The attribute is sufficient to identify a sender of the packet. The packet is directed to a set of resources managed by a load balancing application. A rule corresponding to the sender is selected. The rule is executed to identify a characteristic of an algorithm usable in a load balancing operation of the load balancing application. The packet and the identified characteristic of the algorithm are communicated to the load balancer. The communicating causes the load balancer to select an algorithm for a load balancing operation with the packet such that the selected algorithm includes the identified characteristic of the algorithm.