diff --git a/.github/actions/setup/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup/action.yml
index 18b590d7f7..cc252fde63 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup/action.yml
@@ -11,6 +11,12 @@ inputs:
   prefetch-cargo:
     description: Whether to prefetch Cargo downloads on a cache miss.
     default: "false"
+  build-deps:
+    description: >
+      Whether to build workspace dependencies (make build-deps-slim). Set to
+      "false" when the environment is only needed to run a prebuilt binary,
+      like in the case of the nightly tests.
+    default: "true"
 
 outputs:
   rust-cache-primary-key:
@@ -99,5 +105,6 @@ runs:
       run: find . -iname Cargo.lock -execdir cargo fetch \;
 
     - name: Build dependencies
+      if: inputs.build-deps == 'true'
       shell: bash
       run: make build-deps-slim
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 96750dd16b..703dc2b657 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ jobs:
             make-target: check
             title: MacOS Checks
           - runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-            make-target: durable/database-long-test
+            make-target: durable/run-database-long-test
             title: Durable Storage Long Tests
 
     name: ${{ matrix.title }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/nightly.yml b/.github/workflows/nightly.yml
index 196a9fd43b..0e58c91e5e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nightly.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nightly.yml
@@ -19,38 +19,84 @@ env:
   # Make sure Sccache automatically uses the GitHub Actions cache
   SCCACHE_GHA_ENABLED: "true"
 
+  # Time budget (minutes) shared by every nightly run
+  MAX_MINUTES: "330"
+
 jobs:
+  # Build the long-test binary once and share it with every matrix job below.
+  build:
+    name: "Build database long test binary"
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 90
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v7
+
+      # Save the Nix cache so the test jobs restore this job's dev shell on a
+      # cache miss, instead of each rebuilding the Nix store independently.
+      - name: Set up build environment
+        uses: ./.github/actions/setup
+        with:
+          save-nix-cache: true
+
+      - name: Build database_long_test
+        run: make durable/build-database-long-test
+
+      - name: Upload binary
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: database_long_test
+          path: target/release/database_long_test
+          if-no-files-found: error
+          retention-days: 1
+
   long-test:
-    name: ${{ matrix.title }}
+    name: "Database long test ops=${{ matrix.config.ops }} cases=${{ matrix.config.cases }} #${{ matrix.replica }}"
+    needs: build
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
-    # Up to 6h including setup time
+    # Up to 6h
     timeout-minutes: 360
 
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        include:
-          - title: Durable Storage Database Long Test
-            make-target: durable/database-long-test-nightly
-            artifact-name: durable-storage-database-long-test
-            out-dir: database-long-test
+        config:
+          - { ops: 2000,  cases: 256 }
+          - { ops: 4000,  cases: 128 }
+          - { ops: 8000,  cases: 64 }
+          - { ops: 16000, cases: 32 }
+        replica: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v7
-
       - name: Set up build environment
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup
+        with:
+          build-deps: "false"
+
+      - name: Download binary
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: database_long_test
 
-      - name: Run ${{ matrix.title }}
-        run: make ${{ matrix.make-target }} OUT_DIR='${{ github.workspace }}/${{ matrix.out-dir }}'
+      - name: Run long test
+        run: |
+          chmod +x ./database_long_test # upload-artifact strips the executable bit
+          ./database_long_test test \
+            --ops-per-epoch ${{ matrix.config.ops }} \
+            --cases-per-epoch ${{ matrix.config.cases }} \
+            --keep-epochs 1 \
+            --max-minutes ${{ env.MAX_MINUTES }} \
+            --out-dir '${{ github.workspace }}/run-${{ matrix.config.ops }}-${{ matrix.config.cases }}-${{ matrix.replica }}'
 
       - name: Upload failure artifacts
         if: failure()
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v7
         with:
-          name: ${{ matrix.artifact-name }}-${{ github.run_id }}
-          path: ${{ github.workspace }}/${{ matrix.out-dir }}/failure
+          name: dursto-long-test-${{ matrix.config.ops }}-${{ matrix.config.cases }}-r${{ matrix.replica }}-${{ github.run_id }}-${{ github.run_attempt }}
+          path: ${{ github.workspace }}/run-${{ matrix.config.ops }}-${{ matrix.config.cases }}-${{ matrix.replica }}/failure
           if-no-files-found: warn
           retention-days: 90
diff --git a/durable-storage/Makefile b/durable-storage/Makefile
index 4bb80aa654..1bc16edd3f 100644
--- a/durable-storage/Makefile
+++ b/durable-storage/Makefile
@@ -20,14 +20,11 @@ reset-regressions:
 	@cargo run -p xtask -- gen-database-regression-inputs
 	@UPDATE_GOLDENFILES=1 cargo nextest run test_database_regression
 
-database-long-test:
-	@cargo run --release --features rocksdb,unstable-test-utils \
-		--bin database_long_test -- test --max-minutes 10 --keep-epochs 1
+build-database-long-test:
+	@cargo build --release --features rocksdb,unstable-test-utils --bin database_long_test
 
-database-long-test-nightly:
+run-database-long-test:
 	@cargo run --release --features rocksdb,unstable-test-utils \
-		--bin database_long_test -- test \
-		--ops-per-epoch 2000 --cases-per-epoch 256 --keep-epochs 1 \
-		--max-minutes 300 $(if $(OUT_DIR),--out-dir "$(OUT_DIR)")
+		--bin database_long_test -- test --max-minutes 10 --keep-epochs 1
 
-.PHONY: all check test gen-regression-inputs database-long-test database-long-test-nightly
+.PHONY: all check test gen-regression-inputs run-database-long-test build-database-long-test