diff --git a/pkg/backup/backup_test.go b/pkg/backup/backup_test.go
index 7e58e01db389..d50eef6a2912 100644
--- a/pkg/backup/backup_test.go
+++ b/pkg/backup/backup_test.go
@@ -1294,8 +1294,12 @@ func TestRestoreCheckpointing(t *testing.T) {
 	defer jobs.TestingSetProgressThresholds()()
 
 	// totalEntries represents the number of entries to appear in the persisted frontier.
-	totalEntries := 7
-	entriesBeforePause := 4
+	const totalEntries = 7
+	const entriesBeforePause = 4
+	processedSpans := struct {
+		syncutil.Mutex
+		spans roachpb.Spans
+	}{}
 	entriesCount := 0
 	var alreadyPaused atomic.Bool
 	postResumeCount := 0
@@ -1306,7 +1310,7 @@ func TestRestoreCheckpointing(t *testing.T) {
 	knobs := base.TestingKnobs{
 		DistSQL: &execinfra.TestingKnobs{
 			BackupRestoreTestingKnobs: &sql.BackupRestoreTestingKnobs{
-				RunAfterProcessingRestoreSpanEntry: func(_ context.Context, _ *execinfrapb.RestoreSpanEntry) error {
+				RunAfterProcessingRestoreSpanEntry: func(_ context.Context, entry *execinfrapb.RestoreSpanEntry) error {
 					//  Because the restore processor has several workers that
 					//  concurrently send addsstable requests and because all workers will
 					//  wait on the lock below, when one flush gets blocked on the
@@ -1318,12 +1322,20 @@ func TestRestoreCheckpointing(t *testing.T) {
 					//  checking if the job was paused in each request before it began
 					//  waiting for the lock.
 					wasPausedBeforeWaiting := alreadyPaused.Load()
+
 					mu.Lock()
 					defer mu.Unlock()
 					if entriesCount == entriesBeforePause {
 						close(waitForProgress)
 						<-blockDBRestore
+					} else if entriesCount < entriesBeforePause {
+						// We save all spans from before the pause to ensure that they have
+						// been checkpointed and saved in the job progress.
+						processedSpans.Lock()
+						defer processedSpans.Unlock()
+						processedSpans.spans = append(processedSpans.spans, entry.Span)
 					}
+
 					entriesCount++
 					if wasPausedBeforeWaiting {
 						postResumeCount++
@@ -1366,8 +1378,25 @@ func TestRestoreCheckpointing(t *testing.T) {
 	// Pause the job after some progress has been logged.
 	<-waitForProgress
 
-	// To ensure that progress gets persisted, sleep well beyond the test only job update interval.
-	time.Sleep(time.Second)
+	// To ensure that progress has been persisted, we wait until all processed
+	// spans from before the pause are stored in the job progress.
+	testutils.SucceedsSoon(t, func() error {
+		jobProgress := jobutils.GetJobProgress(t, sqlDB, jobID)
+		checkpointedSpans := jobProgress.GetRestore().Checkpoint
+		checkpointedSpanGroup := roachpb.SpanGroup{}
+		for _, span := range checkpointedSpans {
+			checkpointedSpanGroup.Add(span.Span)
+		}
+
+		processedSpans.Lock()
+		defer processedSpans.Unlock()
+		for _, span := range processedSpans.spans {
+			if !checkpointedSpanGroup.Encloses(span) {
+				return errors.Newf("span %s was processed but not saved in job progress yet")
+			}
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
 
 	sqlDB.Exec(t, `PAUSE JOB $1`, &jobID)
 	jobutils.WaitForJobToPause(t, sqlDB, jobID)