diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index ae1d746fa..286fbc6a1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -2,53 +2,24 @@ name: CI
 
 on: push
 jobs:
-  test_and_lint:
+  lint:
+    uses: ".github/workflows/setup_application_environment"
+    - name: Linting - ShellCheck
+      run: bin/rake shellcheck
+    - name: Linting - Brakeman
+      run: bundle exec brakeman -c config/brakeman.ignore
+    - name: Linting - Standardrb
+      run: bin/rails standard
+
+  test:
+    uses: ".github/workflows/setup_application_environment"
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         ci_node_total: [8]
         ci_node_index: [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    services:
-      postgres:
-        image: postgres:11-alpine
-        ports:
-          - '5432:5432'
-        env:
-          POSTGRES_USER: postgres
-          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
-          POSTGRES_DB: dfe-teachers-payment-service_test
-    env:
-      RAILS_ENV: test
-      DFE_TEACHERS_PAYMENT_SERVICE_DATABASE_USERNAME: postgres
-      DFE_TEACHERS_PAYMENT_SERVICE_DATABASE_PASSWORD: password
-      DFE_TEACHERS_PAYMENT_SERVICE_DATABASE_HOST: localhost
-      CI_NODE_TOTAL: ${{ matrix.ci_node_total }}
-      CI_NODE_INDEX: ${{ matrix.ci_node_index }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Setup Node
-        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
-      - name: Setup yarn
-        run: npm install -g yarn
-      - name: Install Node packages
-        run: yarn install
-      - name: Install Ruby
-        uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
-        with:
-          ruby-version: 3.2.0
-          bundler-cache: true
-      - name: Precompile assets
-        run: bundle exec rails assets:precompile
-      - name: Linting - ShellCheck
-        run: bin/rake shellcheck
-      - name: Linting - Brakeman
-        run: bundle exec brakeman -c config/brakeman.ignore
-      - name: Linting - Standardrb
-        run: bin/rails standard
       - name: Prepare DB
-        run: bin/rails db:schema:load
+        run: bin/rails db:prepare
       - name: Run unit tests
         env:
           SPEC_TYPE: unit
diff --git a/.github/workflows/setup_application_environment.yaml b/.github/workflows/setup_application_environment.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a68a20df9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/setup_application_environment.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+name: Setup application environment
+
+jobs:
+  setup_application_environment:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    services:
+      postgres:
+        image: postgres:11-alpine
+        ports:
+          - '5432:5432'
+        env:
+          POSTGRES_USER: postgres
+          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: password
+          POSTGRES_DB: dfe-teachers-payment-service_test
+    env:
+      RAILS_ENV: test
+      DFE_TEACHERS_PAYMENT_SERVICE_DATABASE_USERNAME: postgres
+      DFE_TEACHERS_PAYMENT_SERVICE_DATABASE_PASSWORD: password
+      DFE_TEACHERS_PAYMENT_SERVICE_DATABASE_HOST: localhost
+      CI_NODE_TOTAL: ${{ matrix.ci_node_total }}
+      CI_NODE_INDEX: ${{ matrix.ci_node_index }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Setup Node
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          cache: yarn
+      - name: Setup yarn
+        run: npm install -g yarn
+      - name: Install Node packages
+        run: yarn install
+      - name: Install Ruby
+        uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
+        with:
+          bundler-cache: true
+      - name: Restore assets cache
+        id: assets-cache
+        uses: actions/cache/restore@v4
+        with:
+          path: |
+            public/assets
+          key: assets-${{ hashFiles('**/app/assets/**/*', '**/app/javascript/**/*') }}
+          restore-keys: |
+            ${{ runner.os }}-assets-
+
+      - name: Prepare assets
+        if: ${{ steps.assets-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' }}
+        run: bin/rails test:prepare
+
+      - name: Save assets cache
+        if: ${{ steps.assets-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' }}
+        uses: actions/cache/save@v4
+        with:
+          path: |
+            public/assets
+            public/packs-test
+          key: ${{ steps.assets-cache.outputs.cache-primary-key }}