diff --git a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/deploy-k8s-pipeline.yml b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/deploy-k8s-pipeline.yml
index a357e04b756b..cae1207644c2 100644
--- a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/deploy-k8s-pipeline.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/deploy-k8s-pipeline.yml
@@ -3,9 +3,6 @@
 env:
   IMAGE_UBUNTU_X86_64: "family/platform-ingest-beats-ubuntu-2204"
   GCP_HI_PERF_MACHINE_TYPE: "c2d-highcpu-16"
-  KIND_VERSION: "v0.20.0"
-  K8S_VERSION": "v1.29.0"
-  KUBECONFIG: "${WORKSPACE}/kubecfg"
 
 steps:
   - label: "Checks"
@@ -20,11 +17,15 @@ steps:
       machineType: "${GCP_HI_PERF_MACHINE_TYPE}"
 
   - label: "K8S Test"
+    key: "k8s-test"
     env:
       k8sTest: "v1.29.0,v1.28.0,v1.27.3,v1.26.6"
-    command:
-      - ".buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/setup-k8s-env.sh"
-      - "MODULE=kubernetes make -C metricbeat integration-tests"
+    command: ".buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/setup-k8s-env.sh"
+#      - "MODULE=kubernetes make -C metricbeat integration-tests"
+    agents:
+      provider: "gcp"
+      image: "${IMAGE_UBUNTU_X86_64}"
+      machineType: "${GCP_HI_PERF_MACHINE_TYPE}"
 
 
 # setEnvVar('ONLY_DOCS', isGitRegionMatch(patterns: [ '(.*\\.(asciidoc|md)|deploy/kubernetes/.*-kubernetes\\.yaml)' ], shouldMatchAll: true).toString())
diff --git a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kind.sh b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kind.sh
index 0da8076d0505..828680d10ae8 100755
--- a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kind.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kind.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -euxo pipefail
+set -euo pipefail
 
 MSG="environment variable missing."
 DEFAULT_HOME="/usr/local"
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ then
     set +e
     echo "--- Found Kind. Checking version.."
     FOUND_KIND_VERSION=$(kind --version 2>&1 >/dev/null | awk '{print $3}')
+    echo "--- Kind version found: $FOUND_KIND_VERSION"
+    echo "--- Kind version required: $KIND_VERSION"
     if [ "$FOUND_KIND_VERSION" == "$KIND_VERSION" ]
     then
         echo "--- Versions match. No need to install Kind. Exiting."
@@ -21,6 +23,7 @@ then
 fi
 
 echo "--- UNMET DEP: Installing Kind"
+mkdir -p "${HOME}/bin"
 
 OS=$(uname -s| tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
 ARCH=$(uname -m| tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
diff --git a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kubectl.sh b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kubectl.sh
index 3f12e08b2415..c274c5bf734d 100755
--- a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kubectl.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kubectl.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -euxo pipefail
+set -euo pipefail
 
 MSG="parameter missing."
 DEFAULT_HOME="/usr/local"
@@ -7,11 +7,15 @@ K8S_VERSION=${K8S_VERSION:?$MSG}
 HOME=${HOME:?$DEFAULT_HOME}
 KUBECTL_CMD="${HOME}/bin/kubectl"
 
+echo "--- KUBECONFIG: ${KUBECONFIG}"
+
 if command -v kubectl
 then
     set +e
     echo "--- Found kubectl. Checking version.."
     FOUND_KUBECTL_VERSION=$(kubectl version --client --short 2>&1 >/dev/null | awk '{print $3}')
+    echo "--- Kubectl version found: $(kubectl version --client --short 2>&1 >/dev/null)"
+    echo "--- Kubectl version required: $K8S_VERSION"
     if [ "${FOUND_KUBECTL_VERSION}" == "${K8S_VERSION}" ]
     then
         echo "--- Versions match. No need to install kubectl. Exiting."
diff --git a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/kind-setup.sh b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/kind-setup.sh
index 589d96619862..015afa93cdee 100755
--- a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/kind-setup.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/kind-setup.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -euo pipefail
+set -euxo pipefail
 
 echo "--- Creating cluster"
-kind create cluster --image kindest/node:${K8S_VERSION}
+/usr/local/bin/kind create cluster --image kindest/node:${K8S_VERSION}
 kubectl cluster-info
diff --git a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/setup-k8s-env.sh b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/setup-k8s-env.sh
index df5b30db17d6..023e095c4f95 100755
--- a/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/setup-k8s-env.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/setup-k8s-env.sh
@@ -4,9 +4,9 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 source .buildkite/env-scripts/util.sh
 
-echo "--- Installing kind"
-retry_with_count .buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kind.sh
-retry_with_count .buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kubectl.sh
+echo "--- Installing kind & kubectl"
+retry_with_count 5 .buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kubectl.sh
+retry_with_count 5 .buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/install-kind.sh
 
 echo "--- Setting up kind"
 max_retries=3
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ retries=0
 
 while true; do
   script_output=$(.buildkite/deploy/kubernetes/scripts/kind-setup.sh 2>&1)
+  echo "--- $script_output"
   exit_code=$?
 
 if [ $exit_code -eq 0 ]; then
diff --git a/.buildkite/env-scripts/env.sh b/.buildkite/env-scripts/env.sh
index fbbea61ee01b..1c92fb3ecd6b 100644
--- a/.buildkite/env-scripts/env.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/env-scripts/env.sh
@@ -25,12 +25,15 @@ SETUP_WIN_PYTHON_VERSION="3.11.0"
 # Docker & DockerHub
 DOCKER_COMPOSE_VERSION="1.21.0"
 DOCKER_REGISTRY="docker.elastic.co"
-KUBECONFIG="${WORKSPACE}/kubecfg"
-
 ONLY_DOCS=$(changeset_applies "$DOCS_CHANGESET")
+
 PACKAGING_CHANGES=$(changeset_applies "$PACKAGING_CHANGESET")
 GO_MOD_CHANGES=$(changeset_applies "^go.mod")
 
+KIND_VERSION="v0.20.0"
+K8S_VERSION="v1.29.0"
+KUBECONFIG="${WORKSPACE}/kubecfg"
+
 export REPO
 export WORKSPACE
 export BIN
@@ -48,8 +51,11 @@ export SETUP_WIN_PYTHON_VERSION
 
 export DOCKER_COMPOSE_VERSION
 export DOCKER_REGISTRY
-export KUBECONFIG
 
 export ONLY_DOCS
 export PACKAGING_CHANGES
 export GO_MOD_CHANGES
+
+export KIND_VERSION
+export K8S_VERSION
+export KUBECONFIG