diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 02856663bf4ff41c9c228946edfbf76e18a713ff..e51219966fb863932a14fad2dd358316e24a4f50 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -4,9 +4,11 @@ stages:
   - check
   - deploy
 
-.dind:
+default:
   tags:
     - exec-dind
+
+.dind:
   # see https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/docker/using_docker_build.html#tls-enabled
   # for image usage and settings for building with TLS and docker in docker
   image: docker:19.03.1
@@ -23,8 +25,6 @@ lint-helm:
   image:
     name: alpine/helm:3.5.2
     entrypoint: [""]
-  tags:
-    - exec-docker
   script: helm lint helm/
 
 
@@ -32,8 +32,6 @@ lint-helm:
 
 .benchmarks:
   image: openjdk:11-jdk
-  tags:
-    - exec-docker
   variables:
     GRADLE_OPTS: "-Dorg.gradle.daemon=false"
   cache:
@@ -218,8 +216,6 @@ deploy-uc4-load-generator:
   image:
     name: ghcr.io/graalvm/native-image:java11-21.1.0
     entrypoint: [""]
-  tags:
-    - exec-docker
   variables:
     GRADLE_OPTS: "-Dorg.gradle.daemon=false"
   cache:
@@ -318,8 +314,6 @@ test-slo-checker-lag-trend:
   stage: test
   needs: []
   image: python:3.7-slim
-  tags:
-    - exec-docker
   script:
     - cd slo-checker/record-lag
     - pip install -r requirements.txt
@@ -330,8 +324,6 @@ test-slo-checker-dropped-records-kstreams:
   stage: test
   needs: []
   image: python:3.7-slim
-  tags:
-    - exec-docker
   script:
     - cd slo-checker/dropped-records
     - pip install -r requirements.txt