diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 77a6333e2731591dab06bdb683fe504d648e3f3e..88508d7c3ccdd2133f73f398f7de76b62c192782 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -250,6 +250,8 @@ gitlab-opentofu-image:deploy:dry-run:
 
 gitlab-opentofu-image:sign:
   extends: '.image-matrix:deploy'
+  stage: deploy
+  needs: ['gitlab-opentofu-image:deploy']
   image: alpine:3.20.3
   variables:
     COSIGN_YES: "true"  # Used by Cosign to skip confirmation prompts for non-destructive operations