diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 20314deb..e0e4e412 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -95,6 +95,15 @@ include:
   - project: 'Northern.tech/Mender/mendertesting'
     file: '.gitlab-ci-github-status-updates.yml'
 
+default:
+  tags:
+    - k8s
+  retry:
+    max: 2
+    when:
+      - runner_system_failure
+      - stuck_or_timeout_failure
+
 # NOTE: To add distributions, modify first the matrix in mender-test-containers repository
 .mender-dist-packages-image-matrix-cross:
   parallel: