diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index cc4d80dde01a0addf65b1df34876b52c93cf913f..241dd4ac5fa7095150553e2b6e4fe9228d61c74e 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+# Defines a common template for tagging jobs that need runners with the docker
+# exectutor. This was done to be able to change the tag in a single place, as
+# we will likely need to change it every so often. As an example at the time
+# of writing our own runners are slow, so we need to switch back to the public
+# ones
+.docker_runner_tags_template: &docker_runner_tags_definition
+  tags:
+
 stages:
   - lint
   - test
@@ -5,8 +13,7 @@ stages:
 
 job_lint_flake8:
   stage: lint
-  tags:
-    - ci-ubuntu-executor-docker
+  <<: *docker_runner_tags_definition
   image: morkolai/soitool-ci
   script:
     - flake8 --version
@@ -14,8 +21,7 @@ job_lint_flake8:
     
 job_lint_pylint:
   stage: lint
-  tags:
-    - ci-ubuntu-executor-docker
+  <<: *docker_runner_tags_definition
   image: morkolai/soitool-ci
   script:
     - pylint --version
@@ -23,8 +29,7 @@ job_lint_pylint:
 
 job_lint_bandit:
   stage: lint
-  tags:
-    - ci-ubuntu-executor-docker
+  <<: *docker_runner_tags_definition
   image: morkolai/soitool-ci
   script:
     - bandit --version
@@ -32,8 +37,7 @@ job_lint_bandit:
 
 job_lint_pydocstyle:
   stage: lint
-  tags:
-    - ci-ubuntu-executor-docker
+  <<: *docker_runner_tags_definition
   image: morkolai/soitool-ci
   script:
     - pydocstyle --version
@@ -41,8 +45,7 @@ job_lint_pydocstyle:
       
 job_test_gui_ubuntu_vnc:
   stage: test
-  tags:
-    - ci-ubuntu-executor-docker
+  <<: *docker_runner_tags_definition
   image: morkolai/soitool-ci
   script:
     # -platform because running with a screen is not supported
@@ -67,8 +70,7 @@ job_test_gui_ubuntu:
 
 job_pages_smoke_test:
   stage: deploy
-  tags:
-    - ci-ubuntu-executor-docker
+  <<: *docker_runner_tags_definition
   image: morkolai/soitool-ci
   script:
   - mkdir public
@@ -82,8 +84,7 @@ job_pages_smoke_test:
 # name has to be pages
 pages:
   stage: deploy
-  tags:
-    - ci-ubuntu-executor-docker
+  <<: *docker_runner_tags_definition
   image: morkolai/soitool-ci
   script:
   - mkdir public