diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 2748218ff013..abfa453a2ad1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -30,6 +30,68 @@ jobs:
   build:
     if: github.repository == 'apache/cloudstack'
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v5
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Set up JDK 17
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v5
+        with:
+          distribution: 'temurin'
+          java-version: '17'
+          cache: 'maven'
+
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v6
+        with:
+          python-version: '3.10'
+          architecture: 'x64'
+
+      - name: Install Build Dependencies
+        run: |
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install -y git uuid-runtime genisoimage netcat-openbsd ipmitool build-essential libgcrypt20 libgpg-error-dev libgpg-error0 libopenipmi0 ipmitool libpython3-dev libssl-dev libffi-dev python3-openssl python3-dev python3-setuptools
+
+      - name: Env details
+        run: |
+          uname -a
+          whoami
+          javac -version
+          mvn -v
+          python3 --version
+          free -m
+          nproc
+
+      - name: Build with Maven
+        run: |
+          mvn -B -P developer,systemvm -Dsimulator clean install -DskipTests=true -T$(nproc)
+
+      - name: Package build output
+        run: |
+          paths=($(find . -type d -name target))
+          for p in engine/schema/dist systemvm/dist; do
+            [ -d "$p" ] && paths+=("$p")
+          done
+          tar --zstd -cf target-output.tar.zst "${paths[@]}"
+          tar --zstd -cf m2-cloudstack.tar.zst -C "$HOME" .m2/repository/org/apache/cloudstack
+          tar --zstd -cf marvin-dist.tar.zst tools/marvin/dist
+
+      - name: Upload build output
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: simulator-ci-build-output
+          path: |
+            target-output.tar.zst
+            m2-cloudstack.tar.zst
+            marvin-dist.tar.zst
+          retention-days: 1
+          compression-level: 0
+
+  test:
+    if: github.repository == 'apache/cloudstack'
+    needs: build
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -286,9 +348,16 @@ jobs:
           sudo systemctl restart mysql
           sudo mysql -uroot -e "SELECT VERSION();"
 
-      - name: Build with Maven
+      - name: Download build output
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: simulator-ci-build-output
+
+      - name: Extract build output
         run: |
-          mvn -B -P developer,systemvm -Dsimulator clean install -DskipTests=true -T$(nproc)
+          tar --zstd -xf target-output.tar.zst
+          tar --zstd -xf m2-cloudstack.tar.zst -C "$HOME"
+          tar --zstd -xf marvin-dist.tar.zst
 
       - name: Setup Simulator Prerequisites
         run: |