diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0def6d50f75..bfc4d265a4b 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -14,8 +14,19 @@ node_js:
 addons:
     chrome: stable
 install:
-    - npm install
-# install synapse prerequisites for end to end tests
-    - sudo apt-get install build-essential python2.7-dev libffi-dev python-pip python-setuptools sqlite3 libssl-dev python-virtualenv libjpeg-dev libxslt1-dev
-script:
-    ./scripts/travis.sh
+    - ./scripts/travis/install-deps.sh
+matrix:
+    include:
+        - name: Linting Checks
+          script:
+            # run the linter, but exclude any files known to have errors or warnings.
+            - npm run lintwithexclusions
+        - name: End-to-End Tests
+          if: branch = develop
+          install:
+            - sudo apt-get install build-essential python2.7-dev libffi-dev python-pip python-setuptools sqlite3 libssl-dev python-virtualenv libjpeg-dev libxslt1-dev
+          script:
+            - ./scripts/travis/end-to-end-tests.sh
+        - name: Unit Tests
+          script:
+            - ./scripts/travis/unit-tests.sh
diff --git a/.travis-test-riot.sh b/scripts/travis/build.sh
similarity index 61%
rename from .travis-test-riot.sh
rename to scripts/travis/build.sh
index d1c2804b2af..a353e38a069 100755
--- a/.travis-test-riot.sh
+++ b/scripts/travis/build.sh
@@ -24,18 +24,4 @@ rm -r node_modules/matrix-react-sdk
 ln -s "$REACT_SDK_DIR" node_modules/matrix-react-sdk
 
 npm run build
-npm run test
 popd
-
-if [ "$TRAVIS_BRANCH" = "develop" ]
-then
-    # run end to end tests
-    scripts/fetchdep.sh matrix-org matrix-react-end-to-end-tests master
-    pushd matrix-react-end-to-end-tests
-    ln -s $REACT_SDK_DIR/$RIOT_WEB_DIR riot/riot-web
-    # PUPPETEER_SKIP_CHROMIUM_DOWNLOAD=true ./install.sh
-    # CHROME_PATH=$(which google-chrome-stable) ./run.sh
-    ./install.sh
-    ./run.sh --travis
-    popd
-fi
diff --git a/scripts/travis/end-to-end-tests.sh b/scripts/travis/end-to-end-tests.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..361b053d2b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/travis/end-to-end-tests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# script which is run by the travis build (after `npm run test`).
+#
+# clones riot-web develop and runs the tests against our version of react-sdk.
+
+set -ev
+
+RIOT_WEB_DIR=riot-web
+REACT_SDK_DIR=`pwd`
+
+scripts/travis/build.sh
+# run end to end tests
+scripts/fetchdep.sh matrix-org matrix-react-end-to-end-tests master
+pushd matrix-react-end-to-end-tests
+ln -s $REACT_SDK_DIR/$RIOT_WEB_DIR riot/riot-web
+# PUPPETEER_SKIP_CHROMIUM_DOWNLOAD=true ./install.sh
+# CHROME_PATH=$(which google-chrome-stable) ./run.sh
+./install.sh
+./run.sh --travis
+popd
diff --git a/scripts/travis.sh b/scripts/travis/install-deps.sh
similarity index 57%
rename from scripts/travis.sh
rename to scripts/travis/install-deps.sh
index 48410ea9043..04cd728157e 100755
--- a/scripts/travis.sh
+++ b/scripts/travis/install-deps.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 
 set -ex
-
+npm install
 scripts/fetchdep.sh matrix-org matrix-js-sdk
 rm -r node_modules/matrix-js-sdk || true
 ln -s ../matrix-js-sdk node_modules/matrix-js-sdk
@@ -9,9 +9,3 @@ ln -s ../matrix-js-sdk node_modules/matrix-js-sdk
 cd matrix-js-sdk
 npm install
 cd ..
-
-npm run test
-./.travis-test-riot.sh
-
-# run the linter, but exclude any files known to have errors or warnings.
-npm run lintwithexclusions
diff --git a/scripts/travis/unit-tests.sh b/scripts/travis/unit-tests.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..a8e0a63b315
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/travis/unit-tests.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# script which is run by the travis build (after `npm run test`).
+#
+# clones riot-web develop and runs the tests against our version of react-sdk.
+
+set -ev
+
+scripts/travis/build.sh
+npm run test