diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
index ffca48499b15..98524f37c8bf 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
@@ -149,3 +149,11 @@ steps:
     timeout_in_minutes: 10
     agents:
       queue: kibana-default
+
+  - wait
+
+  - command: '.buildkite/scripts/steps/artifacts/docker_image_trigger.sh'
+    label: Trigger container image build
+    timeout_in_minutes: 10
+    agents:
+      queue: 'kibana-default'
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/artifacts/docker_image_trigger.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/artifacts/docker_image_trigger.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..f76eee8986c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/artifacts/docker_image_trigger.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+ts-node .buildkite/scripts/steps/trigger_pipeline.ts kibana-artifacts-container-image "$BUILDKITE_BRANCH" "$BUILDKITE_COMMIT"