diff --git a/scripts/release/create_changelog.sh b/.github/scripts/release/create_changelog.sh
similarity index 55%
rename from scripts/release/create_changelog.sh
rename to .github/scripts/release/create_changelog.sh
index 0e1e92b2ed..19b9c067c8 100755
--- a/scripts/release/create_changelog.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/release/create_changelog.sh
@@ -1,31 +1,36 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-set -o nounset
+
 set -o errexit
 set -E
 set -o pipefail
 
 CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG=$1
-LAST_RELEASE_TAG=$2
-DOCKER_IMAGE_URL=$3
+DOCKER_IMAGE_URL=$2
+LAST_RELEASE_TAG=$3
+
+if [ "${LAST_RELEASE_TAG}"  == "" ]
+then
+  LAST_RELEASE_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)
+fi
 
 GITHUB_URL=https://api.github.com/repos/$CODE_REPOSITORY
 GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER="Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN"
 CHANGELOG_FILE="CHANGELOG.md"
 
-echo "## What has changed" >> $CHANGELOG_FILE
-
-git log "$LAST_RELEASE_TAG..$CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG" --pretty=tformat:"%h" --reverse | while read -r commit
+git log "$LAST_RELEASE_TAG"..HEAD --pretty=tformat:"%h" --reverse | while read -r commit
 do
     COMMIT_AUTHOR=$(curl -H "$GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER" -sS "$GITHUB_URL"/commits/"$commit" | jq -r '.author.login')
-    git show -s "$commit" --format="* %s by @$COMMIT_AUTHOR" >> $CHANGELOG_FILE
+    if [ "${COMMIT_AUTHOR}" != "kyma-bot" ]; then
+      git show -s "${commit}" --format="* %s by @${COMMIT_AUTHOR}" >> ${CHANGELOG_FILE}
+    fi
 done
 
 {
     echo -e "\n**Full changelog**: $GITHUB_URL/compare/$LAST_RELEASE_TAG...$CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG"
     echo -e "\n"
     echo "## Docker image URL"
-    echo "$DOCKER_IMAGE_URL" 
+    echo "$DOCKER_IMAGE_URL"
 } >> $CHANGELOG_FILE
 
-echo $CHANGELOG_FILE
+cat $CHANGELOG_FILE
diff --git a/scripts/release/create_draft_release.sh b/.github/scripts/release/draft_release.sh
similarity index 66%
rename from scripts/release/create_draft_release.sh
rename to .github/scripts/release/draft_release.sh
index d0d5348130..80e19b11ce 100755
--- a/scripts/release/create_draft_release.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/release/draft_release.sh
@@ -6,11 +6,10 @@ set -E
 set -o pipefail
 
 RELEASE_TAG=$1
-CHANGELOG_FILE_NAME=$2
-CHANGELOG_FILE=$(cat "$CHANGELOG_FILE_NAME")
 
-GITHUB_URL=https://api.github.com/repos/$CODE_REPOSITORY
-GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER="Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN"
+GITHUB_URL=https://api.github.com/repos/${CODE_REPOSITORY}
+GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER="Authorization: Bearer ${GITHUB_TOKEN}"
+CHANGELOG_FILE=$(cat CHANGELOG.md)
 
 JSON_PAYLOAD=$(jq -n \
   --arg tag_name "$RELEASE_TAG" \
@@ -24,15 +23,14 @@ JSON_PAYLOAD=$(jq -n \
   }')
 
 CURL_RESPONSE=$(curl -L \
-  -s \
-  --fail-with-body \
   -X POST \
   -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
-  -H "$GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER" \
+  -H "${GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER}" \
   -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
-  "$GITHUB_URL"/releases \
+  "${GITHUB_URL}"/releases \
   -d "$JSON_PAYLOAD")
 
 # return the id of the release draft
 echo "$CURL_RESPONSE" | jq -r ".id"
 
+
diff --git a/scripts/release/get_release_by_tag.sh b/.github/scripts/release/get_release_by_tag.sh
similarity index 96%
rename from scripts/release/get_release_by_tag.sh
rename to .github/scripts/release/get_release_by_tag.sh
index 5c1a499d5f..9ef7036848 100755
--- a/scripts/release/get_release_by_tag.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/release/get_release_by_tag.sh
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ set -o nounset
 set -o pipefail
 
 RELEASE_TAG=$1
+GITHUB_TOKEN=$2
 
 GITHUB_URL=https://api.github.com/repos/$CODE_REPOSITORY
 GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER="Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN"
@@ -23,3 +24,4 @@ if [[ $CURL_EXIT_CODE == 0 ]]; then
     exit 1
 fi
 
+
diff --git a/scripts/release/publish_release.sh b/.github/scripts/release/publish_release.sh
similarity index 52%
rename from scripts/release/publish_release.sh
rename to .github/scripts/release/publish_release.sh
index 5c3684495a..f666815aaa 100755
--- a/scripts/release/publish_release.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/release/publish_release.sh
@@ -5,20 +5,16 @@ set -o errexit
 set -E
 set -o pipefail
 
-RELEASE_ID=$1
+RELEASE_VERSION=$1
 
-GITHUB_URL=https://api.github.com/repos/$CODE_REPOSITORY
-GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER="Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN"
+GITHUB_URL=https://api.github.com/repos/${CODE_REPOSITORY}
+GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER="Authorization: Bearer ${GITHUB_TOKEN}"
 
 CURL_RESPONSE=$(curl -L \
-  -s \
-  --fail-with-body \
   -X POST \
   -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
-  -H "$GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER" \
+  -H "${GITHUB_AUTH_HEADER}" \
   -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
-  "$GITHUB_URL"/releases/"$RELEASE_ID" \
+  "${GITHUB_URL}"/releases/"${RELEASE_VERSION}" \
   -d '{"draft":false}')
-
 echo "$CURL_RESPONSE"
-
diff --git a/scripts/release/validate_release_tag.sh b/.github/scripts/release/validate_release_tag.sh
similarity index 98%
rename from scripts/release/validate_release_tag.sh
rename to .github/scripts/release/validate_release_tag.sh
index e50533506a..48a6bc08ff 100755
--- a/scripts/release/validate_release_tag.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/release/validate_release_tag.sh
@@ -12,5 +12,4 @@ semver_pattern="^([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]*)[.]([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]*)[.]([0-9]|[1-9][0-9]*)
 if ! [[ $CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG =~ $semver_pattern ]]; then
     echo "Given tag \"$CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG\" does not match the expected semantic version pattern: \"$semver_pattern\"."
     exit 1
-fi
-
+fi
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/release/wait_for_image.sh b/.github/scripts/release/wait_for_image.sh
similarity index 100%
rename from scripts/release/wait_for_image.sh
rename to .github/scripts/release/wait_for_image.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-image.yml b/.github/workflows/build-image.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3b8d371168
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-image.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+name: Build Image
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main  # This will get tagged with `latest` and `v{{DATE}}-{{COMMIT_HASH_SHORT}}`
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      tag:
+        description: 'Additional tag for built images'
+        required: false
+        type: string
+        default: ""
+
+permissions:
+  id-token: write # This is required for requesting the JWT token
+  contents: read # This is required for actions/checkout
+
+jobs:
+  compute-tag:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      tag: ${{ steps.get_tag.outputs.tag }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Get the latest tag
+        id: get_tag
+        run: |
+          if [[ "${{ inputs.tag }}" != "" ]]; then
+            echo "tag=${{ inputs.tag }}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          elif [[ "${{ github.event_name }}" == "push" ]]; then
+            echo "tag=latest" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          fi
+      - name: Echo the tag
+        run: echo ${{ steps.get_tag.outputs.tag }}
+  build-image:
+    needs: compute-tag
+    uses: kyma-project/test-infra/.github/workflows/image-builder.yml@main
+    with:
+      name: lifecycle-manager
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
+      context: .
+      tags: ${{ needs.compute-tag.outputs.tag }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/create-release.yaml b/.github/workflows/create-release.yaml
index 47ad297326..d1cc7e843f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/create-release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/create-release.yaml
@@ -6,111 +6,75 @@ env:
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
-      tagName:
-        description: "Release tag. Example: 1.2.3"
+      name:
+        description: "Release name"
         default: ""
         required: true
-      commitHash:
-        description: "full commit hash or branch name to tag"
-        default: "main"
-        required: true
+      since:
+        description: "Changelog since"
+        default: ""
+        required: false
+
 jobs:
   validate-release:
     name: Validate release
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    outputs:
-      last_release_tag: ${{ steps.get_last_release_tag.outputs.last_release_tag }}
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
       - name: Validate the release tag
-        run: ./scripts/release/validate_release_tag.sh ${{ github.event.inputs.tagName }}
+        run: ./.github/scripts/release/validate_release_tag.sh ${{ github.event.inputs.name }}
       - name: Check if release doesn't exist yet
-        env:
-          CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG: ${{ github.event.inputs.tagName }}
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        run: ./scripts/release/get_release_by_tag.sh $CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG
-      - name: Get last release version
-        id: get_last_release_tag
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        run: |
-          set +e
-          SCRIPT_OUTPUT=$(./scripts/release/get_last_release.sh)
-          SCRIPT_EXIT_CODE=$?
-          if [[ $SCRIPT_EXIT_CODE != 0 ]]; then
-            echo "$SCRIPT_OUTPUT"
-            exit $SCRIPT_EXIT_CODE
-          fi
-          set -e
-          echo "Last Release version: $SCRIPT_OUTPUT"
-          echo "last_release_tag=$SCRIPT_OUTPUT" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-  create-tag:
-    name: Create lightweight tag
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: validate-release
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: Create lightweight tag
-        run: |
-          git tag ${{ github.event.inputs.tagName }} ${{ github.event.inputs.commitHash }}
-          git push origin ${{ github.event.inputs.tagName }}
-      - name: Wait for the Docker image
-        timeout-minutes: 20
-        env:
-          ITERATIONS: 40
-          SLEEP_SECONDS: 30
-        run: ./scripts/release/wait_for_image.sh ${{ env.IMAGE_REPO }}:${{ github.event.inputs.tagName }} $ITERATIONS $SLEEP_SECONDS
+        run: ./.github/scripts/release/get_release_by_tag.sh ${{ github.event.inputs.name }} ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
   draft-release:
     name: Create draft release
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [validate-release, create-tag]
-    outputs:
-      release_id: ${{ steps.draft_release.outputs.release_id }}
+    needs: validate-release
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: Generate changelog
-        id: generate_changelog
+      - name: Create changelog
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG: ${{ github.event.inputs.tagName }}
-          LAST_RELEASE_TAG: ${{ needs.validate-release.outputs.last_release_tag }}
-          DOCKER_IMAGE_URL: ${{ env.IMAGE_REPO }}:${{ github.event.inputs.tagName }}
-        run: |
-          echo "Generating changelog for version: $CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG" 
-          CHANGELOG_FILE_NAME=$(./scripts/release/create_changelog.sh $CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG $LAST_RELEASE_TAG $DOCKER_IMAGE_URL)
-          echo "changelog_file_name=$CHANGELOG_FILE_NAME" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-      - name: Create draft release
-        id: draft_release
+        run: ./.github/scripts/release/create_changelog.sh ${{ github.event.inputs.name }} ${{ env.IMAGE_REPO }}:${{ github.event.inputs.name }} ${{ github.event.inputs.since }}
+      - name: Draft release
+        id: draft-release
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG: ${{ github.event.inputs.tagName }}
-          CHANGELOG_FILE_NAME: ${{ steps.generate_changelog.outputs.changelog_file_name }}
         run: |
-          RELEASE_ID=$(./scripts/release/create_draft_release.sh $CURRENT_RELEASE_TAG $CHANGELOG_FILE_NAME)
-          echo "RELEASE_ID=$RELEASE_ID"
+          RELEASE_ID=$(./.github/scripts/release/draft_release.sh ${{ github.event.inputs.name }})
           echo "release_id=$RELEASE_ID" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+      - name: Create tag
+        run: |
+          git tag ${{ github.event.inputs.name }}
+          git push origin ${{ github.event.inputs.name }} --tags
+    outputs:
+      release_id: ${{ steps.draft-release.outputs.release_id }}
+  builds:
+    needs: draft-release
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/build-image.yml
+    with:
+      tag: "${{ github.event.inputs.name }}"
   publish_release:
     name: Publish release
+    needs: [ validate-release, draft-release, builds ]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: draft-release
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+      - name: Wait for the Docker image
+        timeout-minutes: 20
+        env:
+          ITERATIONS: 40
+          SLEEP_SECONDS: 30
+        run: ./.github/scripts/release/wait_for_image.sh ${{ env.IMAGE_REPO }}:${{ github.event.inputs.name }} $ITERATIONS $SLEEP_SECONDS
       - name: Publish release
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          RELEASE_ID: ${{ needs.draft-release.outputs.release_id }}
-        run: |
-          echo "RELEASE_ID=$RELEASE_ID"
-          ./scripts/release/publish_release.sh $RELEASE_ID
+        run: ./.github/scripts/release/publish_release.sh ${{ needs.draft-release.outputs.release_id }}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-e2e.yaml b/.github/workflows/test-e2e.yaml
index 4c7cd78468..420e6e5697 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-e2e.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-e2e.yaml
@@ -1,10 +1,6 @@
 name: TestSuite E2E
 
 on:
-  pull_request:
-    branches:
-      - main
-      - feat/**
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
       k8s_version:
@@ -12,18 +8,12 @@ on:
         required: false
 
 jobs:
-  wait-for-image-build:
-    name: Wait for image build
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: ./.github/actions/wait-for-image-build
-        with:
-          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          statusName: ${{ (github.event_name == 'pull_request') && 'pull-lifecycle-mgr-build' || 'main-lifecycle-mgr-build' }}
+  build-image:
+    name: Build Image
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/build-image.yml
   e2e-integration:
     name: E2E
-    needs: wait-for-image-build
+    needs: build-image
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/test-smoke.yml
index c752d542e4..d25ed87226 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-smoke.yml
@@ -6,15 +6,9 @@ on:
       - main
       - feat/**
 jobs:
-  wait-for-image-build:
-    name: Wait for image build
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - uses: ./.github/actions/wait-for-image-build
-        with:
-          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          statusName: pull-lifecycle-mgr-build
+  build-image:
+    name: Build Image
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/build-image.yml
 
   kustomize:
     strategy:
@@ -44,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
       matrix:
         cli-stability: ["unstable"]
         target: ["default", "control-plane"]
-    needs: [kustomize,wait-for-image-build]
+    needs: [ kustomize,build-image ]
     name: "kyma (${{ matrix.cli-stability }}) alpha deploy -k config/${{ matrix.target }}"
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     env:
diff --git a/scripts/release/get_last_release.sh b/scripts/release/get_last_release.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 7fa33aab17..0000000000
--- a/scripts/release/get_last_release.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-set -o nounset
-set -o pipefail
-
-GITHUB_URL=https://api.github.com/repos/$CODE_REPOSITORY
-
-CURL_RESPONSE=$(curl -L \
-  -s \
-  --fail-with-body \
-  -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
-  -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
-  "$GITHUB_URL"/releases/latest) 
-
-CURL_EXIT_CODE=$?
-
-if [[ $CURL_EXIT_CODE == 0 ]]; then
-    echo "$CURL_RESPONSE" | jq -r .tag_name
-else
-    echo "Can't find any previous release - unable to generate changelog"
-fi
-
-exit $CURL_EXIT_CODE
-