diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5dd1a01eb38..78f7993ce89 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -391,7 +391,7 @@ create-workload-cluster: $(ENVSUBST) $(KUBECTL) ## Create a workload cluster.
 	# Get kubeconfig and store it locally.
 	$(KUBECTL) get secret/$(CLUSTER_NAME)-kubeconfig -n default -o json | jq -r .data.value | base64 --decode > ./kubeconfig
 	# TODO: Standardize timeouts across the Makefile and make them configurable based on the job.
-	$(KUBECTL) -n default wait --for=condition=Ready --timeout=60m cluster "$(CLUSTER_NAME)"
+	$(KUBECTL) -n default wait --for=condition=Ready --timeout=180m cluster "$(CLUSTER_NAME)"
 
 	# Set the namespace to `default` b/c when the service account is auto mounted, the namespace is changed to `test-pods`.
 	$(KUBECTL) --kubeconfig=./kubeconfig config set-context --current --namespace="default"
diff --git a/hack/create-dev-cluster.sh b/hack/create-dev-cluster.sh
index 8184e536b3c..03e0806bd7b 100755
--- a/hack/create-dev-cluster.sh
+++ b/hack/create-dev-cluster.sh
@@ -29,6 +29,10 @@ make envsubst
 export REGISTRY="${REGISTRY:-registry.local/fake}"
 
 export CLUSTER_CREATE_ATTEMPTS="${CLUSTER_CREATE_ATTEMPTS:-3}"
+EXTRA_NODES="${EXTRA_NODES:-}"
+if [[ -n "${EXTRA_NODES}" ]]; then
+  CLUSTER_CREATE_ATTEMPTS=1
+fi
 
 # Cluster settings.
 export CLUSTER_NAME="${CLUSTER_NAME:-capz-test}"
diff --git a/scripts/ci-entrypoint.sh b/scripts/ci-entrypoint.sh
index 89253f917c9..103110071b1 100755
--- a/scripts/ci-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci-entrypoint.sh
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ KUSTOMIZE="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin/kustomize"
 make --directory="${REPO_ROOT}" "${KUBECTL##*/}" "${HELM##*/}" "${KIND##*/}" "${KUSTOMIZE##*/}"
 KIND_CLUSTER_NAME="${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME:-capz}"
 WORKER_MACHINE_COUNT="${WORKER_MACHINE_COUNT:-2}"
+EXTRA_NODES="${EXTRA_NODES:-0}"
+EXTRA_NODES_PER_SCALEOUT="${EXTRA_NODES_PER_SCALEOUT:-100}"
 export KIND_CLUSTER_NAME
 # export the variables so they are available in bash -c wait_for_nodes below
 export KUBECTL
@@ -214,6 +216,29 @@ wait_for_pods() {
     done
 }
 
+# wait_for_extra_nodes accommodates building large clusters gradually
+wait_for_extra_nodes() {
+    local existing_nodes="${WORKER_MACHINE_COUNT}"
+    local remaining_extra_nodes="${EXTRA_NODES}"
+    local total_nodes="$((CONTROL_PLANE_MACHINE_COUNT + WORKER_MACHINE_COUNT + WINDOWS_WORKER_MACHINE_COUNT))"
+    while [[ "${remaining_extra_nodes}" -gt "${EXTRA_NODES_PER_SCALEOUT}" ]]; do
+        NEW_REPLICA_COUNT=$((existing_nodes + "${EXTRA_NODES_PER_SCALEOUT}"))
+        "${KUBECTL}" --kubeconfig "${REPO_ROOT}/${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}.kubeconfig" scale machinedeployment/"${CLUSTER_NAME}"-md-0 --replicas="${NEW_REPLICA_COUNT}"
+        total_nodes=$((total_nodes + EXTRA_NODES_PER_SCALEOUT))
+        while [[ $("${KUBECTL}" get nodes -ojson | jq '.items | length') -ne "${total_nodes}" ]]; do
+            sleep 10
+        done
+        existing_nodes=$((existing_nodes + EXTRA_NODES_PER_SCALEOUT))
+        remaining_extra_nodes=$((remaining_extra_nodes - EXTRA_NODES_PER_SCALEOUT))
+    done
+    NEW_REPLICA_COUNT=$((existing_nodes + remaining_extra_nodes))
+    "${KUBECTL}" --kubeconfig "${REPO_ROOT}/${KIND_CLUSTER_NAME}.kubeconfig" scale machinedeployment/"${CLUSTER_NAME}"-md-0 --replicas="${NEW_REPLICA_COUNT}"
+    total_nodes=$((total_nodes + remaining_extra_nodes))
+    while [[ $("${KUBECTL}" get nodes -ojson | jq '.items | length') -ne "${total_nodes}" ]]; do
+        sleep 10
+    done
+}
+
 install_addons() {
     export -f copy_kubeadm_config_map wait_for_copy_kubeadm_config_map
     timeout --foreground 600 bash -c wait_for_copy_kubeadm_config_map
@@ -224,6 +249,10 @@ install_addons() {
     timeout --foreground 1800 bash -c wait_for_nodes
     export -f wait_for_pods
     timeout --foreground 1800 bash -c wait_for_pods
+    if [ "${EXTRA_NODES}" -gt "0" ]; then
+        export -f wait_for_extra_nodes
+        timeout --foreground 10800 bash -c wait_for_extra_nodes
+    fi
 }
 
 copy_secret() {