diff --git a/ci/workflows/main-cron.yml b/ci/workflows/main-cron.yml
index e8a0fa32f101..946f6c355efd 100644
--- a/ci/workflows/main-cron.yml
+++ b/ci/workflows/main-cron.yml
@@ -367,6 +367,28 @@ steps:
     timeout_in_minutes: 120
     retry: *auto-retry
 
+  - label: "end-to-end test (madsim, random vnode count)"
+    key: "e2e-test-deterministic-random-vnode-count"
+    command: "TEST_NUM=32 RW_SIM_RANDOM_VNODE_COUNT=true timeout 120m ci/scripts/deterministic-e2e-test.sh"
+    if: |
+      !(build.pull_request.labels includes "ci/main-cron/run-selected") && build.env("CI_STEPS") == null
+      || build.pull_request.labels includes "ci/run-e2e-test-deterministic-simulation"
+      || build.env("CI_STEPS") =~ /(^|,)e2e-tests?-deterministic-simulation(,|$$)/
+    depends_on: "build-simulation"
+    plugins:
+      - seek-oss/aws-sm#v2.3.1:
+          env:
+            GITHUB_TOKEN: github-token
+      - docker-compose#v5.1.0:
+          run: rw-build-env
+          config: ci/docker-compose.yml
+          mount-buildkite-agent: true
+          environment:
+            - GITHUB_TOKEN
+      - ./ci/plugins/upload-failure-logs
+    timeout_in_minutes: 120
+    retry: *auto-retry
+
   - label: "recovery test (madsim)"
     key: "recovery-test-deterministic"
     command: "TEST_NUM=12 KILL_RATE=1.0 BACKGROUND_DDL_RATE=0.0 timeout 65m ci/scripts/deterministic-recovery-test.sh"
diff --git a/ci/workflows/pull-request.yml b/ci/workflows/pull-request.yml
index 10eb009bee2f..e10ffb2d0091 100644
--- a/ci/workflows/pull-request.yml
+++ b/ci/workflows/pull-request.yml
@@ -569,7 +569,7 @@ steps:
     retry: *auto-retry
 
   - label: "end-to-end test (deterministic simulation)"
-    command: "TEST_NUM=4 RW_SIM_RANDOM_VNODE_COUNT=true ci/scripts/deterministic-e2e-test.sh"
+    command: "TEST_NUM=4 ci/scripts/deterministic-e2e-test.sh"
     if: |
       !(build.pull_request.labels includes "ci/pr/run-selected") && build.env("CI_STEPS") == null
       || build.pull_request.labels includes "ci/run-e2e-test-deterministic-simulation"