diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 89b011d6..c43b1884 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -4494,6 +4494,7 @@ version = "1.7.0"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "nohash-hasher",
+ "serde",
  "thiserror 1.0.69",
 ]
 
diff --git a/backends/candle/src/models/flash_modernbert.rs b/backends/candle/src/models/flash_modernbert.rs
index 95b0cfb1..3c876c63 100644
--- a/backends/candle/src/models/flash_modernbert.rs
+++ b/backends/candle/src/models/flash_modernbert.rs
@@ -260,11 +260,7 @@ impl FlashModernBertModel {
 
         let (pool, classifier) = match model_type {
             ModelType::Classifier => {
-                let pool: Pool = config
-                    .classifier_pooling
-                    .as_deref()
-                    .and_then(|s| Pool::from_str(s).ok())
-                    .unwrap_or(Pool::Cls);
+                let pool: Pool = config.classifier_pooling.clone().unwrap_or(Pool::Cls);
 
                 let classifier: Box<dyn ClassificationHead + Send> =
                     Box::new(ModernBertClassificationHead::load(vb.clone(), config)?);
diff --git a/backends/candle/src/models/modernbert.rs b/backends/candle/src/models/modernbert.rs
index ba913560..046a1547 100644
--- a/backends/candle/src/models/modernbert.rs
+++ b/backends/candle/src/models/modernbert.rs
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ use candle::{DType, Device, IndexOp, Module, Result, Tensor, D};
 use candle_nn::{Embedding, VarBuilder};
 use serde::Deserialize;
 use text_embeddings_backend_core::{Batch, ModelType, Pool};
-use std::str::FromStr;
 
 // https://github.com/huggingface/transformers/blob/main/src/transformers/models/modernbert/configuration_modernbert.py
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Deserialize)]
@@ -38,7 +37,7 @@ pub struct ModernBertConfig {
     pub mlp_bias: Option<bool>,
     pub mlp_dropout: Option<f64>,
     pub decoder_bias: Option<bool>,
-    pub classifier_pooling: Option<String>,
+    pub classifier_pooling: Option<Pool>,
     pub classifier_dropout: Option<f64>,
     pub classifier_bias: Option<bool>,
     pub classifier_activation: HiddenAct,
@@ -485,11 +484,7 @@ impl ModernBertModel {
     pub fn load(vb: VarBuilder, config: &ModernBertConfig, model_type: ModelType) -> Result<Self> {
         let (pool, classifier) = match model_type {
             ModelType::Classifier => {
-                let pool: Pool = config
-                    .classifier_pooling
-                    .as_deref()
-                    .and_then(|s| Pool::from_str(s).ok())
-                    .unwrap_or(Pool::Cls);
+                let pool: Pool = config.classifier_pooling.clone().unwrap_or(Pool::Cls);
 
                 let classifier: Box<dyn ClassificationHead + Send> =
                     Box::new(ModernBertClassificationHead::load(vb.clone(), config)?);
diff --git a/backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_mean_pooling.snap.new b/backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_mean_pooling.snap
similarity index 83%
rename from backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_mean_pooling.snap.new
rename to backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_mean_pooling.snap
index 4167173d..ab58e0cf 100644
--- a/backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_mean_pooling.snap.new
+++ b/backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_mean_pooling.snap
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 ---
 source: backends/candle/tests/test_modernbert.rs
-assertion_line: 229
 expression: predictions_single
 ---
 - - -0.30617672
-
diff --git a/backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_single.snap b/backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_single.snap
index 20ef4d37..4674caa5 100644
--- a/backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_single.snap
+++ b/backends/candle/tests/snapshots/test_modernbert__modernbert_classification_single.snap
@@ -2,4 +2,4 @@
 source: backends/candle/tests/test_modernbert.rs
 expression: predictions_single
 ---
-- - 2.2585099
+- - 2.13616
diff --git a/backends/candle/tests/test_modernbert.rs b/backends/candle/tests/test_modernbert.rs
index e26ab61d..9419a2d9 100644
--- a/backends/candle/tests/test_modernbert.rs
+++ b/backends/candle/tests/test_modernbert.rs
@@ -233,4 +233,4 @@ fn test_modernbert_classification_mean_pooling() -> Result<()> {
     );
 
     Ok(())
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/backends/core/Cargo.toml b/backends/core/Cargo.toml
index 754f9526..89800a85 100644
--- a/backends/core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/backends/core/Cargo.toml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ homepage.workspace = true
 thiserror = { workspace = true }
 clap = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 nohash-hasher = { workspace = true }
+serde = { workspace = true }
 
 [features]
 clap = ["dep:clap"]
diff --git a/backends/core/src/lib.rs b/backends/core/src/lib.rs
index 7b927787..8e134d2b 100644
--- a/backends/core/src/lib.rs
+++ b/backends/core/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 #[cfg(feature = "clap")]
 use clap::ValueEnum;
 use nohash_hasher::IntMap;
+use serde::Deserialize;
 use std::fmt;
 use thiserror::Error;
 
@@ -52,8 +53,9 @@ pub enum ModelType {
     Embedding(Pool),
 }
 
-#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Clone)]
+#[derive(Debug, PartialEq, Clone, Deserialize)]
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "clap", derive(ValueEnum))]
+#[serde(rename_all = "snake_case")]
 pub enum Pool {
     /// Select the CLS token as embedding
     Cls,
@@ -78,23 +80,6 @@ impl fmt::Display for Pool {
     }
 }
 
-impl std::str::FromStr for Pool {
-    type Err = String;
-
-    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
-        match s.trim().to_lowercase().as_str() {
-            "cls" => Ok(Pool::Cls),
-            "mean" => Ok(Pool::Mean),
-            "splade" => Ok(Pool::Splade),
-            "last_token" => Ok(Pool::LastToken),
-            _ => Err(format!(
-                "Invalid pooling method '{}'. Valid options: cls, mean, splade, last_token", 
-                s
-            )),
-        }
-    }
-}
-
 #[derive(Debug, Error, Clone)]
 pub enum BackendError {
     #[error("No backend found")]