diff --git a/.github/workflows/java-cdk-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/java-cdk-tests.yml
index 96f23e6db13a..c679f7de3b97 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/java-cdk-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/java-cdk-tests.yml
@@ -33,22 +33,34 @@ jobs:
       - id: changes
         uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2
         with:
-          # Note: expressions within a filter are OR'ed
           filters: |
             java:
               - 'airbyte-cdk/java/**/*'
               - 'airbyte-cdk/bulk/**/*'
 
-  run-check:
+  changes-in-bulk:
+    name: Detect Changes in Bulk
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    outputs:
+      java: ${{ steps.changes-in-bulk.outputs.java }}
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Airbyte
+        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - id: changes-in-bulk
+        uses: dorny/paths-filter@v2
+        with:
+          filters: |
+            java:
+              - 'airbyte-cdk/bulk/**/*'
+
+  run-check-bulk-cdk-version:
     needs:
-      - changes
-    if: needs.changes.outputs.java == 'true'
-    # As of now, 16 cores seems to be enough.
-    # Any revision upwards should be based on a performance analysis of gradle scans.
-    # See https://github.com/airbytehq/airbyte/pull/36055 for an example of this,
-    # which explains why which we went down from 64 cores to 16.
+      - changes-in-bulk
+    if: needs.changes-in-bulk.outputs.java == 'true'
     runs-on: linux-24.04-large # Custom runner, defined in GitHub org settings
-    name: CDK Check
+    name: Bulk CDK version check
     timeout-minutes: 60
     steps:
       - name: Checkout Airbyte
@@ -59,15 +71,35 @@ jobs:
           distribution: "zulu"
           java-version: "21"
       # Help CDK Devs understand CDK version should be incremented on changes.
-      - name: Error if CDK Version Exists
+      - name: Check that bulk CDK version is incremented
         uses: burrunan/gradle-cache-action@v1
         env:
           CI: true
         with:
-          job-id: bulk-cdk-publish
+          job-id: bulk-cdk-version-check
           concurrent: true
           gradle-distribution-sha-256-sum-warning: false
           arguments: --scan :airbyte-cdk:bulk:checkBuildNumber
+
+  run-check:
+    needs:
+      - changes
+    if: needs.changes.outputs.java == 'true'
+    # As of now, 16 cores seems to be enough.
+    # Any revision upwards should be based on a performance analysis of gradle scans.
+    # See https://github.com/airbytehq/airbyte/pull/36055 for an example of this,
+    # which explains why which we went down from 64 cores to 16.
+    runs-on: linux-24.04-large # Custom runner, defined in GitHub org settings
+    name: CDK Check
+    timeout-minutes: 60
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Airbyte
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Java Setup
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v3
+        with:
+          distribution: "zulu"
+          java-version: "21"
       - name: Run Java CDK Tests
         uses: burrunan/gradle-cache-action@v3
         env: