diff --git a/deploy/ci/.dockerignore b/deploy/ci/.dockerignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 9bd6b26085..0000000000
--- a/deploy/ci/.dockerignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-.cache
-*.md
-docs
-go-build
-tags
diff --git a/deploy/ci/Makefile b/deploy/ci/Makefile
index b4196ef1f5..b4c13960fb 100644
--- a/deploy/ci/Makefile
+++ b/deploy/ci/Makefile
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
+DOCKER       ?= docker
 REGISTRY_URL ?= docker.io
-CI_IMAGE=aistorage/ci
-IMAGE_TAG=latest
+CI_IMAGE     ?= aistorage/ci
+IMAGE_TAG    ?= latest
 
 all: build push
 
 build:
-	docker build --network host --no-cache -t $(REGISTRY_URL)/$(CI_IMAGE):$(IMAGE_TAG) -f general.dockerfile .
+	$(DOCKER) build --network host --no-cache -t $(REGISTRY_URL)/$(CI_IMAGE):$(IMAGE_TAG) -f general.dockerfile .
 push:
-	docker push $(REGISTRY_URL)/$(CI_IMAGE):$(IMAGE_TAG)
+	$(DOCKER) push $(REGISTRY_URL)/$(CI_IMAGE):$(IMAGE_TAG)
diff --git a/deploy/ci/general.dockerfile b/deploy/ci/general.dockerfile
index c5d2399be9..29ada26886 100644
--- a/deploy/ci/general.dockerfile
+++ b/deploy/ci/general.dockerfile
@@ -1,30 +1,30 @@
 FROM golang:1.22
 
-ENV GOPATH="/go"
-ENV PATH="${GOPATH}/bin:${PATH}"
-
-RUN apt-get update -yq
-RUN apt-get --no-install-recommends -y install curl git sysstat attr build-essential lsof coreutils python3-pip python3-setuptools s3cmd docker.io uuid-runtime bc gettext-base
-# Python source-build requirements
-RUN apt-get --no-install-recommends -y install wget libbz2-dev libncursesw5-dev unzip libreadline-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libffi-dev zlib1g-dev xz-utils lzma liblzma-dev
-
-# Install Python 3.11 from source
-RUN curl -o python3.11.tgz https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.11.1/Python-3.11.1.tgz
-RUN tar xf python3.11.tgz
-RUN (cd Python-3.11.1 && ./configure --enable-optimizations && make -j4 && make install)
-RUN pip3 install --upgrade pip
-RUN pip3 install awscli black[jupyter]
+RUN apt update -yq
+RUN apt-get --no-install-recommends -y install curl git sysstat attr build-essential lsof coreutils python3 python3-pip python3-setuptools s3cmd docker.io uuid-runtime bc gettext-base
+RUN python3 --version
+RUN python3 -m pip config set global.break-system-packages true
+RUN pip3 install --upgrade pip && pip3 install awscli black[jupyter]
 
 # Install `kubectl`.
-RUN curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/$(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
-RUN chmod +x ./kubectl
-RUN mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
-RUN kubectl version --client
+RUN curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/$(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl && \
+      chmod +x ./kubectl && \
+      mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl && \
+      kubectl version --client
 
-# Cache all dependencies and install the linter.
+# Install `kind`.
+RUN go install sigs.k8s.io/kind@v0.23.0
+
+# Cache all dependencies from `aistore` and install the linter.
 RUN git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/NVIDIA/aistore.git && cd aistore && \
-go mod download && \
-cd cmd/cli && go mod download && cd ../.. && \
-make lint-update-ci && \
-make install-python-deps && \
-cd .. && rm -rf aistore
+      go mod download && \
+      cd cmd/cli && go mod download && cd ../.. && \
+      make lint-update-ci && \
+      make install-python-deps && \
+      cd .. && rm -rf aistore
+
+# Cache all dependencies from `ais-k8s/operator`.
+RUN git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/NVIDIA/ais-k8s.git && cd ais-k8s/operator && \
+      go mod download && \
+      make kustomize controller-gen envtest golangci-lint && \
+      cd ../.. && rm -rf ais-k8s