diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index bf941f39df8b3a491d5bf41345bff0c453d03f9d..75969493e0178716bc984867a69454d83000a683 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,15 @@ name: GitHub CI
 
 on: [pull_request]
 
+# for some reason, this does not work:
+# variables:
+#   BUILDOPTS: "-j4"
+#   HARNESS_JOBS: "${HARNESS_JOBS:-4}"
+
+# for some reason, this does not work:
+# before_script:
+#     - make="make -s"
+
 jobs:
   basic_gcc:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -10,9 +19,9 @@ jobs:
     - name: config
       run: ./config --strict-warnings && perl configdata.pm --dump
     - name: make
-      run: make
+      run: make -s -j4
     - name: make test
-      run: make test
+      run: make test HARNESS_JOBS=${HARNESS_JOBS:-4}
     - name: make doc-nits
       run: make doc-nits
 
@@ -23,9 +32,9 @@ jobs:
     - name: config
       run: CC=clang ./config --strict-warnings && perl configdata.pm --dump
     - name: make
-      run: make
+      run: make -s -j4
     - name: make test
-      run: make test
+      run: make test HARNESS_JOBS=${HARNESS_JOBS:-4}
 
   minimal:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -34,9 +43,9 @@ jobs:
     - name: config
       run: ./config --strict-warnings no-shared no-dso no-pic no-aria no-async no-autoload-config no-blake2 no-bf no-camellia no-cast no-chacha no-cmac no-cms no-comp no-ct no-des no-dgram no-dh no-dsa no-dtls no-ec2m no-engine no-filenames no-gost no-idea no-mdc2 no-md4 no-multiblock no-nextprotoneg no-ocsp no-ocb no-poly1305 no-psk no-rc2 no-rc4 no-rmd160 no-seed no-siphash no-sm2 no-sm3 no-sm4 no-srp no-srtp no-ssl3 no-ssl3-method no-ts no-ui-console no-whirlpool no-asm -DOPENSSL_NO_SECURE_MEMORY -DOPENSSL_SMALL_FOOTPRINT && perl configdata.pm --dump
     - name: make
-      run: make
+      run: make -s -j4
     - name: make test
-      run: make test
+      run: make test HARNESS_JOBS=${HARNESS_JOBS:-4}
 
   sanitizers:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -45,9 +54,9 @@ jobs:
     - name: config
       run: ./config --debug no-asm enable-asan enable-ubsan enable-rc5 enable-md2 enable-ec_nistp_64_gcc_128 && perl configdata.pm --dump
     - name: make
-      run: make
+      run: make -s -j4
     - name: make test
-      run: OPENSSL_TEST_RAND_ORDER=0 make test
+      run: make test HARNESS_JOBS=${HARNESS_JOBS:-4} OPENSSL_TEST_RAND_ORDER=0
 
   enable_non-default_options:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -56,9 +65,9 @@ jobs:
     - name: config
       run: ./config --strict-warnings no-ec enable-ssl-trace enable-zlib enable-zlib-dynamic enable-crypto-mdebug enable-crypto-mdebug-backtrace enable-egd && perl configdata.pm --dump
     - name: make
-      run: make
+      run: make -s -j4
     - name: make test
-      run: make test
+      run: make test HARNESS_JOBS=${HARNESS_JOBS:-4}
 
   legacy_and_no-asm:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -67,9 +76,9 @@ jobs:
     - name: config
       run: ./config no-asm -Werror --debug no-afalgeng no-shared enable-crypto-mdebug enable-rc5 enable-md2 && perl configdata.pm --dump
     - name: make
-      run: make
+      run: make -s -j4
     - name: make test
-      run: make test
+      run: make test HARNESS_JOBS=${HARNESS_JOBS:-4}
 
   buildtest:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
@@ -78,6 +87,6 @@ jobs:
     - name: config
       run: ./config no-asm no-makedepend enable-buildtest-c++ --strict-warnings -D_DEFAULT_SOURCE && perl configdata.pm --dump
     - name: make
-      run: make
+      run: make -s -j4
     - name: make test
-      run: make test
+      run: make test HARNESS_JOBS=${HARNESS_JOBS:-4}