diff --git a/backend/src/v2/compiler/visitor.go b/backend/src/v2/compiler/visitor.go
index f6b7204a45cc..277fadcbec85 100644
--- a/backend/src/v2/compiler/visitor.go
+++ b/backend/src/v2/compiler/visitor.go
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ func (state *pipelineDFS) dfs(name string, component *pipelinespec.ComponentSpec
 		}
 
 		// Add kubernetes spec to annotation
-		if state.kubernetesSpec != nil {
+		if state.kubernetesSpec != nil && state.kubernetesSpec.DeploymentSpec != nil {
 			kubernetesExecSpec, ok := state.kubernetesSpec.DeploymentSpec.Executors[executorLabel]
 			if ok {
 				state.visitor.AddKubernetesSpec(name, kubernetesExecSpec)