diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index 544bb7900008..b88951916744 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -38,16 +38,13 @@ env:
 
   # DEPENDENCY_CACHE_KEY: can't be set here because we don't have access to yarn.lock
 
-  # WARNING: this disables cross os caching as ~ and
-  # github.workspace evaluate to differents paths
-  # packages/utils/cjs and packages/utils/esm: Symlinks to the folders inside of `build`, needed for tests
-  CACHED_BUILD_PATHS: |
+  BUILD_PATHS: |
     ${{ github.workspace }}/dev-packages/*/build
     ${{ github.workspace }}/packages/*/build
-    ${{ github.workspace }}/packages/*/lib
-    ${{ github.workspace }}/packages/ember/*.d.ts
     ${{ github.workspace }}/packages/gatsby/*.d.ts
 
+  BUILD_LAYER_PATH: ${{ github.workspace }}/packages/aws-serverless/build/aws/dist-serverless
+
   BUILD_CACHE_TARBALL_KEY: tarball-${{ github.event.inputs.commit || github.sha }}
 
   # GH will use the first restore-key it finds that matches
@@ -133,7 +130,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         with:
           name: build-output
-          path: ${{ env.CACHED_BUILD_PATHS }}
+          path: ${{ env.BUILD_PATHS }}
           retention-days: 4
           compression-level: 6
           overwrite: true
@@ -164,6 +161,40 @@ jobs:
       changed_browser_integration:
         ${{ needs.job_get_metadata.outputs.changed_ci == 'true' || contains(steps.checkForAffected.outputs.affected,
         '@sentry-internal/browser-integration-tests') }}
+      changed_aws_serverless:
+        ${{ needs.job_get_metadata.outputs.changed_ci == 'true' || contains(steps.checkForAffected.outputs.affected,
+        '@sentry/aws-serverless') }}
+
+  job_build_layer:
+    name: Build Lambda layer
+    needs: [job_get_metadata, job_build]
+    if: needs.job_build.outputs.changed_aws_serverless == 'true' || github.event_name != 'pull_request'
+    timeout-minutes: 10
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out current commit (${{ needs.job_get_metadata.outputs.commit_label }})
+        uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ env.HEAD_COMMIT }}
+      - name: Set up Node
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
+        with:
+          node-version-file: 'package.json'
+      - name: Restore caches
+        uses: ./.github/actions/restore-cache
+        with:
+          dependency_cache_key: ${{ needs.job_build.outputs.dependency_cache_key }}
+      - name: Build Lambda layer
+        run: yarn build:layer
+
+      - name: Upload build artifacts
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: build-layer-output
+          path: ${{ env.BUILD_LAYER_PATH }}
+          retention-days: 4
+          compression-level: 6
+          overwrite: true
 
   job_check_branches:
     name: Check PR branches
@@ -298,7 +329,7 @@ jobs:
 
   job_artifacts:
     name: Upload Artifacts
-    needs: [job_get_metadata, job_build]
+    needs: [job_get_metadata, job_build, job_build_layer]
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     # Build artifacts are only needed for releasing workflow.
     if: needs.job_get_metadata.outputs.is_release == 'true'
@@ -316,6 +347,12 @@ jobs:
         with:
           dependency_cache_key: ${{ needs.job_build.outputs.dependency_cache_key }}
 
+      - name: Restore build layer artifacts
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: build-layer-output
+          path: ${{ env.BUILD_LAYER_PATH }}
+
       - name: Pack tarballs
         run: yarn build:tarball
 
@@ -902,7 +939,7 @@ jobs:
     # See: https://github.com/actions/runner/issues/2205
     if:
       always() && needs.job_e2e_prepare.result == 'success' && needs.job_e2e_prepare.outputs.matrix != '{"include":[]}'
-    needs: [job_get_metadata, job_build, job_e2e_prepare]
+    needs: [job_get_metadata, job_build, job_build_layer, job_e2e_prepare]
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     timeout-minutes: 15
     env:
@@ -948,6 +985,13 @@ jobs:
         with:
           dependency_cache_key: ${{ needs.job_build.outputs.dependency_cache_key }}
 
+      - name: Restore build layer artifacts
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        if: matrix.test-application == 'aws-serverless'
+        with:
+          name: build-layer-output
+          path: ${{ env.BUILD_LAYER_PATH }}
+
       - name: Restore tarball cache
         uses: actions/cache/restore@v5
         id: restore-tarball-cache
@@ -1134,6 +1178,7 @@ jobs:
         job_check_lockfile,
         job_check_format,
         job_circular_dep_check,
+        job_build_layer,
         job_size_check,
       ]
     # Always run this, even if a dependent job failed
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 3d211ca42067..c0702e176bc5 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 {
   "private": true,
   "scripts": {
-    "build": "node ./scripts/verify-packages-versions.js && nx run-many -t build:transpile build:types build:bundle build:layer",
+    "build": "node ./scripts/verify-packages-versions.js && nx run-many -t build:transpile build:types build:bundle build:extension",
     "build:bundle": "nx run-many -t build:bundle",
+    "build:layer": "nx run-many -t build:layer",
     "build:dev": "nx run-many -t build:types build:transpile",
     "build:dev:filter": "nx run-many -t build:dev -p",
     "build:transpile": "nx run-many -t build:transpile",
diff --git a/packages/aws-serverless/package.json b/packages/aws-serverless/package.json
index 0e16d2caa192..14f58e143198 100644
--- a/packages/aws-serverless/package.json
+++ b/packages/aws-serverless/package.json
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
     "@vercel/nft": "^1.3.0"
   },
   "scripts": {
-    "build": "run-p build:transpile build:types build:extension && run-s build:layer",
+    "build": "run-p build:transpile build:types build:extension",
     "build:extension": "rollup -c rollup.lambda-extension.config.mjs && yarn ts-node scripts/buildLambdaExtension.ts",
     "build:layer": "rimraf build/aws && yarn ts-node scripts/buildLambdaLayer.ts",
     "build:dev": "run-p build:transpile build:types",
@@ -145,6 +145,23 @@
           "{projectRoot}/build/aws"
         ],
         "cache": true
+      },
+      "build:tarball": {
+        "inputs": [
+          "production",
+          "^production"
+        ],
+        "dependsOn": [
+          "build:transpile",
+          "^build:transpile",
+          "build:types",
+          "^build:types",
+          "build:extension"
+        ],
+        "outputs": [
+          "{projectRoot}/*.tgz"
+        ],
+        "cache": true
       }
     }
   }