diff --git a/.buildkite/hooks/post-command b/.buildkite/hooks/post-command
index d9a8ad668da0..13e0f4d79582 100755
--- a/.buildkite/hooks/post-command
+++ b/.buildkite/hooks/post-command
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-.buildkite/scripts/lifecycle/post_command.sh
+if [[ "$BUILDKITE_AGENT_NAME" =~ ^bk-agent ]]; then
+  echo "Pipeline file triggered from outside the kibana executors, skipping post_command"
+else
+  .buildkite/scripts/lifecycle/post_command.sh
+fi
diff --git a/.buildkite/hooks/pre-command b/.buildkite/hooks/pre-command
index 58a2c5f0b499..95e2975d094c 100644
--- a/.buildkite/hooks/pre-command
+++ b/.buildkite/hooks/pre-command
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-source .buildkite/scripts/lifecycle/pre_command.sh
+if [[ "$BUILDKITE_AGENT_NAME" =~ ^bk-agent ]]; then
+  echo "Pipeline file triggered from outside the kibana executors, skipping pre_command"
+else
+  source .buildkite/scripts/lifecycle/pre_command.sh
+fi
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-production.yaml b/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-production.yaml
index 5a0738ead7d9..f2a96d0e23f9 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-production.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-production.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+env:
+  TEAM_CHANNEL: "#kibana-serverless-release"
+  ENVIRONMENT: "production"
+
 steps:
   - label: ":pipeline::fleet::seedling: Trigger Observability Kibana Tests for ${ENVIRONMENT}"
     command: echo "replace me with Observability specific Kibana tests"
@@ -8,3 +12,10 @@ steps:
     command: echo "replace me with Security specific Kibana tests"
     agent:
       image: "docker.elastic.co/ci-agent-images/basic-buildkite-agent:1688566364"
+
+  - wait: ~
+
+  - label: ":judge::seedling: Trigger Manual Tests Phase"
+    command: "make -C /agent trigger-manual-verification-phase"
+    agents:
+      image: "docker.elastic.co/ci-agent-images/manual-verification-agent:0.0.1"
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-qa.yaml b/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-qa.yaml
index 669b306bc2ce..1c9047c38ae9 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-qa.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-qa.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+env:
+  TEAM_CHANNEL: "#kibana-serverless-release"
+  ENVIRONMENT: "qa"
+
 steps:
   - label: ":pipeline::kibana::seedling: Trigger Kibana Tests for ${ENVIRONMENT}"
     command: echo "replace me with Kibana specific tests"
@@ -18,3 +22,10 @@ steps:
     command: echo "replace me with Control Plane specific Kibana tests"
     agent:
       image: "docker.elastic.co/ci-agent-images/basic-buildkite-agent:1688566364"
+
+  - wait: ~
+
+  - label: ":judge::seedling: Trigger Manual Tests Phase"
+    command: "make -C /agent trigger-manual-verification-phase"
+    agents:
+      image: "docker.elastic.co/ci-agent-images/manual-verification-agent:0.0.1"
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-staging.yaml b/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-staging.yaml
index 5a0738ead7d9..bb2381df1fd2 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-staging.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/quality-gates/pipeline.tests-staging.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+env:
+  TEAM_CHANNEL: "#kibana-serverless-release"
+  ENVIRONMENT: "staging"
+
 steps:
   - label: ":pipeline::fleet::seedling: Trigger Observability Kibana Tests for ${ENVIRONMENT}"
     command: echo "replace me with Observability specific Kibana tests"
@@ -8,3 +12,10 @@ steps:
     command: echo "replace me with Security specific Kibana tests"
     agent:
       image: "docker.elastic.co/ci-agent-images/basic-buildkite-agent:1688566364"
+
+  - wait: ~
+
+  - label: ":judge::seedling: Trigger Manual Tests Phase"
+    command: "make -C /agent trigger-manual-verification-phase"
+    agents:
+      image: "docker.elastic.co/ci-agent-images/manual-verification-agent:0.0.1"
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/lifecycle/pre_command.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/lifecycle/pre_command.sh
index cf31fc95bcb5..b945f08d1dfd 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/lifecycle/pre_command.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/lifecycle/pre_command.sh
@@ -2,11 +2,6 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-if [[ "$BUILDKITE_COMMAND" =~ ^"buildkite-agent pipeline upload" ]]; then
-  echo "Skipped pre-command when running the Upload pipeline"
-  exit 0
-fi
-
 source .buildkite/scripts/common/util.sh
 
 echo '--- Setup environment vars'