diff --git a/.github/workflows/aks.yaml b/.github/workflows/aks.yaml
index e3924cbf82..5d8e2cf0f7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/aks.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/aks.yaml
@@ -160,8 +160,20 @@ jobs:
             --set azure.client_secret=${{ steps.az.outputs.client-secret }}
 
       - name: Wait for install job
+        env:
+          timeout: 5m
         run: |
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-install --for=condition=complete --timeout=5m
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-install --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-install --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
       - name: Delete the first node pool
         run: |
@@ -183,9 +195,21 @@ jobs:
           helm install .github/cilium-cli-test-job-chart \
             --generate-name
 
-      - name: Wait for job
+      - name: Wait for test job
+        env:
+          timeout: 15m
         run: |
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=15m
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
       - name: Post-test information gathering
         if: ${{ !success() }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/eks-tunnel.yaml b/.github/workflows/eks-tunnel.yaml
index 1e316b3db7..fa26bc8c80 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/eks-tunnel.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/eks-tunnel.yaml
@@ -116,9 +116,21 @@ jobs:
             --set tag=${{ steps.vars.outputs.sha }} \
             --set cluster_name=${{ env.clusterName }}
 
-      - name: Wait for test job
+      - name: Wait for job
+        env:
+          timeout: 20m
         run: |
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=20m
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
       - name: Post-test information gathering
         if: ${{ !success() }}
@@ -141,6 +153,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Uninstall and make sure the 'aws-node' DaemonSet blocking nodeSelector was removed
         if: ${{ success() }}
+        env:
+          timeout: 2m
         run: |
           kubectl create configmap cilium-cli-test-script-uninstall -n kube-system --from-file=in-cluster-test-script.sh=.github/in-cluster-test-scripts/eks-uninstall.sh
           helm install .github/cilium-cli-test-job-chart \
@@ -149,7 +163,18 @@ jobs:
             --set cluster_name=${{ env.clusterName }} \
             --set job_name=cilium-cli-uninstall \
             --set test_script_cm=cilium-cli-test-script-uninstall
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-uninstall --for=condition=complete --timeout=2m
+          
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-uninstall --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-uninstall --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
           echo "=== Retrieve in-cluster jobs logs ==="
           kubectl logs --timestamps -n kube-system job/cilium-cli-uninstall
diff --git a/.github/workflows/eks.yaml b/.github/workflows/eks.yaml
index b7c6d090b6..a72058fd98 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/eks.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/eks.yaml
@@ -116,9 +116,21 @@ jobs:
             --set tag=${{ steps.vars.outputs.sha }} \
             --set cluster_name=${{ env.clusterName }}
 
-      - name: Wait for test job
+      - name: Wait for job
+        env:
+          timeout: 20m
         run: |
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=20m
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
       - name: Post-test information gathering
         if: ${{ !success() }}
@@ -141,6 +153,8 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Uninstall and make sure the 'aws-node' DaemonSet blocking nodeSelector was removed
         if: ${{ success() }}
+        env:
+          timeout: 2m
         run: |
           kubectl create configmap cilium-cli-test-script-uninstall -n kube-system --from-file=in-cluster-test-script.sh=.github/in-cluster-test-scripts/eks-uninstall.sh
           helm install .github/cilium-cli-test-job-chart \
@@ -149,7 +163,18 @@ jobs:
             --set cluster_name=${{ env.clusterName }} \
             --set job_name=cilium-cli-uninstall \
             --set test_script_cm=cilium-cli-test-script-uninstall
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-uninstall --for=condition=complete --timeout=2m
+          
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-uninstall --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-uninstall --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
           echo "=== Retrieve in-cluster jobs logs ==="
           kubectl logs --timestamps -n kube-system job/cilium-cli-uninstall
diff --git a/.github/workflows/externalworkloads.yaml b/.github/workflows/externalworkloads.yaml
index 2d1493df1d..642f286400 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/externalworkloads.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/externalworkloads.yaml
@@ -124,8 +124,20 @@ jobs:
             --set cluster_cidr=${{ steps.cluster.outputs.cluster_cidr }}
 
       - name: Wait for install job
+        env:
+          timeout: 10m
         run: |
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-install --for=condition=complete --timeout=10m
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-install --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli-install --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
       - name: Copy VM install script from cilium-cli-install pod
         run: |
@@ -164,8 +176,20 @@ jobs:
             --set test_script_cm=cilium-cli-test-script
 
       - name: Wait for test job
+        env:
+          timeout: 10m
         run: |
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=10m
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
       - name: Post-test information gathering
         if: ${{ !success() }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/gke.yaml b/.github/workflows/gke.yaml
index 83a1dbaa19..02991236d0 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/gke.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/gke.yaml
@@ -104,9 +104,21 @@ jobs:
             --set cluster_name=${{ env.clusterName }} \
             --set cluster_cidr=${{ steps.cluster.outputs.cluster_cidr }}
 
-      - name: Wait for job
+      - name: Wait for test job
+        env:
+          timeout: 15m
         run: |
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=15m
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
       - name: Post-test information gathering
         if: ${{ !success() }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/multicluster.yaml b/.github/workflows/multicluster.yaml
index da295e48e7..b93bf9f02b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/multicluster.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/multicluster.yaml
@@ -141,8 +141,20 @@ jobs:
             --set cluster_name_2=${{ env.clusterName2 }} \
 
       - name: Wait for test job
+        env:
+          timeout: 20m
         run: |
-          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=20m
+          # Background wait for job to complete or timeout
+          kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=complete --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} &
+          complete_pid=$!
+
+          # Background wait for job to fail
+          (kubectl -n kube-system wait job/cilium-cli --for=condition=failed --timeout=${{ env.timeout }} && exit 1) &
+          failed_pid=$!
+
+          # Active wait for whichever background process ends first
+          wait -n $complete_pid $failed_pid
+          exit $?
 
       - name: Post-test information gathering
         if: ${{ !success() }}