diff --git a/cmd/ci-operator/main.go b/cmd/ci-operator/main.go
index 916b2619b6..6da24aee15 100644
--- a/cmd/ci-operator/main.go
+++ b/cmd/ci-operator/main.go
@@ -1096,6 +1096,8 @@ func (o *options) Run() (errs []error) {
 	info := o.getResolverInfo(o.jobSpec)
 	o.metricsAgent.RecordConfigurationInsight(o.targets.values, o.promote, info.Org, info.Repo, info.Branch, info.Variant, o.baseNamespace, o.consoleHost, o.nodeName, o.clusterProfiles)
 
+	o.adjustLeaseAcquireTimeout()
+
 	if runErrs := interrupt.New(handler, o.saveNamespaceArtifacts).Run(func() []error {
 		if leaseClient != nil {
 			if err := o.initializeLeaseClient(); err != nil {
@@ -2070,6 +2072,22 @@ func loadLeaseCredentials(leaseServerCredentialsFile string) (string, func() []b
 	return username, passwordGetter, nil
 }
 
+// adjustLeaseAcquireTimeout increases the lease acquire timeout to match the
+// test timeout when a target test has a longer timeout configured. This
+// prevents jobs from failing to acquire leases when the pool is busy, even
+// though the overall job timeout would allow waiting longer.
+func (o *options) adjustLeaseAcquireTimeout() {
+	for _, test := range o.configSpec.Tests {
+		if len(o.targets.values) > 0 && !slices.Contains(o.targets.values, test.As) {
+			continue
+		}
+		if test.Timeout != nil && test.Timeout.Duration > o.leaseAcquireTimeout {
+			logrus.Infof("Adjusting lease acquire timeout from %s to %s to match test %q timeout", o.leaseAcquireTimeout, test.Timeout.Duration, test.As)
+			o.leaseAcquireTimeout = test.Timeout.Duration
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func (o *options) initializeLeaseClient() error {
 	var err error
 	owner := o.namespace + "-" + o.jobSpec.UniqueHash()
diff --git a/cmd/ci-operator/main_test.go b/cmd/ci-operator/main_test.go
index 5c41913aa3..e4482fa7d8 100644
--- a/cmd/ci-operator/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/ci-operator/main_test.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"reflect"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
 
@@ -1820,3 +1821,78 @@ func TestGetClusterProfileNamesFromTargets(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+func TestAdjustLeaseAcquireTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	dur := func(d time.Duration) *prowapi.Duration {
+		return &prowapi.Duration{Duration: d}
+	}
+	testCases := []struct {
+		name            string
+		initialTimeout  time.Duration
+		tests           []api.TestStepConfiguration
+		targets         []string
+		expectedTimeout time.Duration
+	}{
+		{
+			name:           "no matching test leaves timeout unchanged",
+			initialTimeout: 2 * time.Hour,
+			tests: []api.TestStepConfiguration{
+				{As: "other", Timeout: dur(10 * time.Hour)},
+			},
+			targets:         []string{"e2e-parallel"},
+			expectedTimeout: 2 * time.Hour,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "matching test with larger timeout adjusts lease timeout",
+			initialTimeout: 2 * time.Hour,
+			tests: []api.TestStepConfiguration{
+				{As: "e2e-parallel", Timeout: dur(10 * time.Hour)},
+			},
+			targets:         []string{"e2e-parallel"},
+			expectedTimeout: 10 * time.Hour,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "matching test with smaller timeout does not reduce lease timeout",
+			initialTimeout: 2 * time.Hour,
+			tests: []api.TestStepConfiguration{
+				{As: "e2e-parallel", Timeout: dur(1 * time.Hour)},
+			},
+			targets:         []string{"e2e-parallel"},
+			expectedTimeout: 2 * time.Hour,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "matching test with no timeout leaves lease timeout unchanged",
+			initialTimeout: 2 * time.Hour,
+			tests: []api.TestStepConfiguration{
+				{As: "e2e-parallel"},
+			},
+			targets:         []string{"e2e-parallel"},
+			expectedTimeout: 2 * time.Hour,
+		},
+		{
+			name:           "no explicit targets with long test timeout adjusts lease timeout",
+			initialTimeout: 2 * time.Hour,
+			tests: []api.TestStepConfiguration{
+				{As: "e2e-parallel", Timeout: dur(10 * time.Hour)},
+			},
+			targets:         nil,
+			expectedTimeout: 10 * time.Hour,
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tc := range testCases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			o := &options{
+				leaseAcquireTimeout: tc.initialTimeout,
+				configSpec: &api.ReleaseBuildConfiguration{
+					Tests: tc.tests,
+				},
+			}
+			o.targets.values = tc.targets
+			o.adjustLeaseAcquireTimeout()
+			if o.leaseAcquireTimeout != tc.expectedTimeout {
+				t.Errorf("expected lease acquire timeout %s, got %s", tc.expectedTimeout, o.leaseAcquireTimeout)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}