diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 88508d7c3ccdd2133f73f398f7de76b62c192782..6ff818498e5e82ae32c9e6f6da75c4aa05be3a78 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ stages:
   - test-integration
   - quality
   - deploy
+  - sign
   - release
   - cleanup
 
@@ -250,8 +251,7 @@ gitlab-opentofu-image:deploy:dry-run:
 
 gitlab-opentofu-image:sign:
   extends: '.image-matrix:deploy'
-  stage: deploy
-  needs: ['gitlab-opentofu-image:deploy']
+  stage: sign
   image: alpine:3.20.3
   variables:
     COSIGN_YES: "true"  # Used by Cosign to skip confirmation prompts for non-destructive operations