diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
index 4eb15c16970ef..7719b338b13ef 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/on_merge.yml
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ steps:
       image: family/kibana-ubuntu-2004
       imageProject: elastic-images-prod
       provider: gcp
-      machineType: n2-standard-2
+      machineType: n2-highcpu-8
       preemptible: true
     key: quick_checks
     timeout_in_minutes: 60
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/pull_request/base.yml b/.buildkite/pipelines/pull_request/base.yml
index e5da8ce788e5b..2f2e0a739a304 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/pull_request/base.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/pull_request/base.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ steps:
   - command: .buildkite/scripts/steps/quick_checks.sh
     label: 'Quick Checks'
     agents:
-      machineType: n2-standard-2
+      machineType: n2-highcpu-8
       preemptible: true
     key: quick_checks
     timeout_in_minutes: 60
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/common/util.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/common/util.sh
index d50fafad6967b..dce418180c107 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/common/util.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/common/util.sh
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ is_pr_with_label() {
 
   IFS=',' read -ra labels <<< "${GITHUB_PR_LABELS:-}"
 
-  for label in "${labels[@]}"
+  for label in "${labels[@]:-}"
   do
     if [ "$label" == "$match" ]; then
       return
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/event_log.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/event_log.sh
index dc9c01902c010..930908bb2d0ec 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/event_log.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/event_log.sh
@@ -8,7 +8,25 @@ echo --- Check Event Log Schema
 
 # event log schema is pinned to a specific version of ECS
 ECS_STABLE_VERSION=1.8
-git clone --depth 1 -b $ECS_STABLE_VERSION https://github.com/elastic/ecs.git ../ecs
+
+# we can potentially skip this check on a local env, if ../ecs is present, and modified by the developer
+if [[ "${CI:-false}" =~ ^(0|false)$ ]] && [[ -d '../ecs' ]]; then
+  LOCAL_ECS_BRANCH=$(git -C ../ecs branch --show-current)
+  if [[ "$LOCAL_ECS_BRANCH" != "$ECS_STABLE_VERSION" ]]; then
+    echo "Skipping event log schema check because ECS schema is not on $ECS_STABLE_VERSION."
+    exit 0
+  fi
+
+  TOUCHED_FILES=$(git -C ../ecs status --porcelain)
+  if [[ -n "$TOUCHED_FILES" ]]; then
+    echo "Skipping event log schema check because ECS schema files have been modified."
+    exit 0
+  fi
+
+  echo "../ecs is already cloned and @ $ECS_STABLE_VERSION"
+else
+  git clone --depth 1 -b $ECS_STABLE_VERSION https://github.com/elastic/ecs.git ../ecs
+fi
 
 node x-pack/plugins/event_log/scripts/create_schemas.js
 
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/quick_checks.txt b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/quick_checks.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..028aa47ff9567
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/quick_checks.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/precommit_hook.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/ts_projects.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/packages.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/bazel_packages.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/verify_notice.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/plugin_list_docs.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/event_log.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/telemetry.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/jest_configs.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/bundle_limits.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/i18n.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/file_casing.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/licenses.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/test_projects.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/test_hardening.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/ftr_configs.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/yarn_deduplicate.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/prettier_topology.sh
+.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/renovate.sh
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/quick_checks.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/quick_checks.sh
index eb14209f97f5a..1b1613d42dc8d 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/quick_checks.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/quick_checks.sh
@@ -2,25 +2,9 @@
 
 set -euo pipefail
 
-export DISABLE_BOOTSTRAP_VALIDATION=false
-.buildkite/scripts/bootstrap.sh
+if [[ "${CI:-}" =~ ^(1|true)$ ]]; then
+  export DISABLE_BOOTSTRAP_VALIDATION=false
+  .buildkite/scripts/bootstrap.sh
+fi
 
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/precommit_hook.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/ts_projects.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/packages.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/bazel_packages.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/verify_notice.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/plugin_list_docs.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/event_log.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/telemetry.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/jest_configs.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/bundle_limits.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/i18n.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/file_casing.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/licenses.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/test_projects.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/test_hardening.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/ftr_configs.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/yarn_deduplicate.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/prettier_topology.sh
-.buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/renovate.sh
+node scripts/quick_checks --file .buildkite/scripts/steps/checks/quick_checks.txt
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index ee6ebf60ce187..0b93cb96d4e47 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
     "lint:es": "node scripts/eslint",
     "lint:style": "node scripts/stylelint",
     "makelogs": "node scripts/makelogs",
+    "quick-checks": "node scripts/quick_checks",
     "serverless": "node scripts/kibana --dev --serverless",
     "serverless-es": "node scripts/kibana --dev --serverless=es",
     "serverless-oblt": "node scripts/kibana --dev --serverless=oblt",
diff --git a/scripts/quick_checks.js b/scripts/quick_checks.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..db6a3b1daeef4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/quick_checks.js
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
+ * 2.0 and the Server Side Public License, v 1; you may not use this file except
+ * in compliance with, at your election, the Elastic License 2.0 or the Server
+ * Side Public License, v 1.
+ */
+
+require('../src/setup_node_env');
+require('../src/dev/run_quick_checks');
diff --git a/src/dev/run_quick_checks.ts b/src/dev/run_quick_checks.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..cdb59bdce3cb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dev/run_quick_checks.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
+ * 2.0 and the Server Side Public License, v 1; you may not use this file except
+ * in compliance with, at your election, the Elastic License 2.0 or the Server
+ * Side Public License, v 1.
+ */
+
+import { exec } from 'child_process';
+import { availableParallelism } from 'os';
+import { join, isAbsolute } from 'path';
+import { readdirSync, readFileSync } from 'fs';
+
+import { run, RunOptions } from '@kbn/dev-cli-runner';
+import { REPO_ROOT } from '@kbn/repo-info';
+import { ToolingLog } from '@kbn/tooling-log';
+
+const MAX_PARALLELISM = availableParallelism();
+const buildkiteQuickchecksFolder = join('.buildkite', 'scripts', 'steps', 'checks');
+const quickChecksList = join(buildkiteQuickchecksFolder, 'quick_checks.txt');
+const sleep = (ms: number) => new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
+
+interface CheckResult {
+  success: boolean;
+  script: string;
+  output: string;
+  durationMs: number;
+}
+
+const scriptOptions: RunOptions = {
+  description: `
+    Runs sanity-testing quick-checks in parallel.
+      - arguments (--file, --dir, --checks) are exclusive - only one can be used at a time.
+  `,
+  flags: {
+    string: ['dir', 'checks', 'file'],
+    help: `
+        --file             Run all checks from a given file. (default='${quickChecksList}')
+        --dir              Run all checks in a given directory.
+        --checks           Runs all scripts given in this parameter. (comma or newline delimited)
+      `,
+  },
+  log: {
+    context: 'quick-checks',
+    defaultLevel: process.env.CI === 'true' ? 'debug' : 'info',
+  },
+};
+
+let logger: ToolingLog;
+void run(async ({ log, flagsReader }) => {
+  logger = log;
+
+  const scriptsToRun = collectScriptsToRun({
+    targetFile: flagsReader.string('file'),
+    targetDir: flagsReader.string('dir'),
+    checks: flagsReader.string('checks'),
+  });
+
+  logger.write(
+    `--- Running ${scriptsToRun.length} checks, with parallelism ${MAX_PARALLELISM}...`,
+    scriptsToRun
+  );
+  const startTime = Date.now();
+  const results = await runAllChecks(scriptsToRun);
+
+  logger.write('--- All checks finished.');
+  printResults(startTime, results);
+
+  const failedChecks = results.filter((check) => !check.success);
+  if (failedChecks.length > 0) {
+    logger.write(`--- ${failedChecks.length} quick check(s) failed. ❌`);
+    logger.write(`See above for details.`);
+    process.exitCode = 1;
+  } else {
+    logger.write('--- All checks passed. ✅');
+    return results;
+  }
+}, scriptOptions);
+
+function collectScriptsToRun(inputOptions: {
+  targetFile: string | undefined;
+  targetDir: string | undefined;
+  checks: string | undefined;
+}) {
+  const { targetFile, targetDir, checks } = inputOptions;
+  if ([targetFile, targetDir, checks].filter(Boolean).length > 1) {
+    throw new Error('Only one of --file, --dir, or --checks can be used at a time.');
+  }
+
+  if (targetDir) {
+    const targetDirAbsolute = isAbsolute(targetDir) ? targetDir : join(REPO_ROOT, targetDir);
+    return readdirSync(targetDirAbsolute).map((file) => join(targetDir, file));
+  } else if (checks) {
+    return checks
+      .trim()
+      .split(/[,\n]/)
+      .map((script) => script.trim());
+  } else {
+    const targetFileWithDefault = targetFile || quickChecksList;
+    const targetFileAbsolute = isAbsolute(targetFileWithDefault)
+      ? targetFileWithDefault
+      : join(REPO_ROOT, targetFileWithDefault);
+
+    return readFileSync(targetFileAbsolute, 'utf-8')
+      .trim()
+      .split('\n')
+      .map((line) => line.trim());
+  }
+}
+
+async function runAllChecks(scriptsToRun: string[]) {
+  const checksRunning: Array<Promise<any>> = [];
+  const checksFinished: CheckResult[] = [];
+
+  while (scriptsToRun.length > 0 || checksRunning.length > 0) {
+    while (scriptsToRun.length > 0 && checksRunning.length < MAX_PARALLELISM) {
+      const script = scriptsToRun.shift();
+      if (!script) {
+        continue;
+      }
+
+      const check = runCheckAsync(script);
+      checksRunning.push(check);
+      check.then((result) => {
+        checksRunning.splice(checksRunning.indexOf(check), 1);
+        checksFinished.push(result);
+      });
+    }
+
+    await sleep(1000);
+  }
+
+  return checksFinished;
+}
+
+async function runCheckAsync(script: string): Promise<CheckResult> {
+  logger.info(`Starting check: ${script}`);
+  const startTime = Date.now();
+
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    const scriptProcess = exec(script);
+    let output = '';
+    const appendToOutput = (data: string | Buffer) => (output += data);
+
+    scriptProcess.stdout?.on('data', appendToOutput);
+    scriptProcess.stderr?.on('data', appendToOutput);
+
+    scriptProcess.on('exit', (code) => {
+      const result: CheckResult = {
+        success: code === 0,
+        script,
+        output,
+        durationMs: Date.now() - startTime,
+      };
+      if (code === 0) {
+        logger.info(`Passed check: ${script} in ${humanizeTime(result.durationMs)}`);
+      } else {
+        logger.warning(`Failed check: ${script} in ${humanizeTime(result.durationMs)}`);
+      }
+
+      resolve(result);
+    });
+  });
+}
+
+function printResults(startTimestamp: number, results: CheckResult[]) {
+  const totalDuration = results.reduce((acc, result) => acc + result.durationMs, 0);
+  const total = humanizeTime(totalDuration);
+  const effective = humanizeTime(Date.now() - startTimestamp);
+  logger.info(`- Total time: ${total}, effective: ${effective}`);
+
+  results.forEach((result) => {
+    logger.write(
+      `--- ${result.success ? '✅' : '❌'} ${result.script}: ${humanizeTime(result.durationMs)}`
+    );
+    if (result.success) {
+      logger.debug(result.output);
+    } else {
+      logger.warning(result.output);
+    }
+  });
+}
+
+function humanizeTime(ms: number) {
+  if (ms < 1000) {
+    return `${ms}ms`;
+  }
+
+  const minutes = Math.floor(ms / 1000 / 60);
+  const seconds = Math.floor((ms - minutes * 60 * 1000) / 1000);
+  if (minutes === 0) {
+    return `${seconds}s`;
+  } else {
+    return `${minutes}m ${seconds}s`;
+  }
+}