diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 34f025a4a6..93b828406d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@
 name: Flink Kubernetes Operator CI
 on:
   push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+      - release-*
   pull_request:
 jobs:
   test_ci:
@@ -163,7 +166,8 @@ jobs:
           export SHELL=/bin/bash
           export DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
           eval $(minikube -p minikube docker-env)
-          docker build --progress=plain --no-cache -f ./Dockerfile -t flink-kubernetes-operator:ci-latest --progress plain .
+          export JAVA_VERSION=${{ matrix.java-version }}
+          docker build --progress=plain --no-cache -f ./Dockerfile -t flink-kubernetes-operator:ci-latest --progress plain --build-arg JAVA_VERSION="${JAVA_VERSION:-11}" .
           docker images
       - name: Start the operator
         run: |
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 0e36e63515..1af671b159 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 ################################################################################
 # Build
-FROM maven:3.8.4-eclipse-temurin-11 AS build
+ARG JAVA_VERSION=11
+FROM maven:3.8.8-eclipse-temurin-${JAVA_VERSION} AS build
 ARG SKIP_TESTS=true
 
 WORKDIR /app
@@ -33,7 +34,7 @@ RUN cd /app/tools/license; mkdir jars; cd jars; \
     cd ../ && ./collect_license_files.sh ./jars ./licenses-output
 
 # stage
-FROM eclipse-temurin:11-jre-jammy
+FROM eclipse-temurin:${JAVA_VERSION}-jre-jammy
 ENV FLINK_HOME=/opt/flink
 ENV FLINK_PLUGINS_DIR=$FLINK_HOME/plugins
 ENV OPERATOR_VERSION=1.10-SNAPSHOT