diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index dd9c7d3f3b5c1c1f63367e9f776bd0360f0e8689..1d91c48a5e40e0252b380cd4c0b5966a8ead225f 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ validate:
   dependencies:
     - compile
   script:
+    - make -j ${NJOBS} # CI gotcha — get any spurious recompilation out of the way
     - make validate 2>&1 | tee validation-results.txt
     - scripts/check-validation-output.sh validation-results.txt