diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-build.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci-build.yaml
index c86bfb3b3a673..1267a628e42c8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-build.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-build.yaml
@@ -23,8 +23,25 @@ permissions:
   contents: read
 
 jobs:
+  changes:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      backend: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.backend }}
+      frontend: ${{ steps.filter.outputs.frontend }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@3df4ab11eba7bda6032a0b82a6bb43b11571feac # v4.0.0
+      - uses: dorny/paths-filter@4512585405083f25c027a35db413c2b3b9006d50 # v2
+        id: filter
+        with:
+          filters: |
+            backend:
+              - '!(ui/**)'
+              - '!(**/*.md)'
+            frontend:
+              - 'ui/**'
   check-go:
     name: Ensure Go modules synchronicity
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
@@ -43,6 +60,7 @@ jobs:
 
   build-go:
     name: Build & cache Go code
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
@@ -67,6 +85,7 @@ jobs:
       contents: read  # for actions/checkout to fetch code
       pull-requests: read  # for golangci/golangci-lint-action to fetch pull requests
     name: Lint Go code
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
@@ -83,6 +102,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-go:
     name: Run unit tests for Go packages
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     needs:
       - build-go
@@ -150,6 +170,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-go-race:
     name: Run unit tests with -race for Go packages
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     needs:
       - build-go
@@ -212,6 +233,7 @@ jobs:
 
   codegen:
     name: Check changes to generated code
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
@@ -260,6 +282,7 @@ jobs:
 
   build-ui:
     name: Build, test & lint UI code
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.frontend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
@@ -292,6 +315,7 @@ jobs:
 
   analyze:
     name: Process & analyze test artifacts
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' || needs.changes.outputs.frontend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     needs:
       - test-go
@@ -315,7 +339,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Create test-results directory
         run: |
           mkdir -p test-results
-      - name: Get code coverage artifiact
+      - name: Get code coverage artifact
         uses: actions/download-artifact@9bc31d5ccc31df68ecc42ccf4149144866c47d8a # v3.0.2
         with:
           name: code-coverage
@@ -358,6 +382,7 @@ jobs:
 
   test-e2e:
     name: Run end-to-end tests
+    if: ${{ needs.changes.outputs.backend == 'true' }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -462,3 +487,25 @@ jobs:
           name: e2e-server-k8s${{ matrix.k3s-version }}.log
           path: /tmp/e2e-server.log
         if: ${{ failure() }}
+
+  # workaround for status checks -- check this one job instead of each individual E2E job in the matrix
+  # this allows us to skip the entire matrix when it doesn't need to run while still having accurate status checks
+  # see:
+  # https://github.com/argoproj/argo-workflows/pull/12006
+  # https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/9141#discussioncomment-2296809
+  # https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/26822#discussioncomment-3305794
+  test-e2e-composite-result:
+    name: E2E Tests - Composite result
+    if: ${{ always() }}
+    needs:
+      - test-e2e
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    steps:
+      - run: |
+          result="${{ needs.test-e2e.result }}"
+          # mark as successful even if skipped
+          if [[ $result == "success" || $result == "skipped" ]]; then
+            exit 0
+          else
+            exit 1
+          fi