diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 58dc7ca2e12..b32181529da 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ include:
   - 'bootstrap/.gitlab-ci.yml'
 
 .shared_template:
+  variables:
+    AUTOBUILD_JOB_NAME: $CI_JOB_NAME
   image: $SAMBA_CI_CONTAINER_IMAGE
   stage: build
   tags:
@@ -74,8 +76,8 @@ include:
   script:
     # gitlab predefines CI_JOB_NAME for each job. The gitlab job usually matches the
     # autobuild name, which means we can define a default template that runs most autobuild jobs
-    - echo "Running cmd script/autobuild.py $CI_JOB_NAME --verbose --nocleanup --keeplogs --tail --testbase /tmp/samba-testbase"
-    - script/autobuild.py $CI_JOB_NAME    --verbose --nocleanup --keeplogs --tail --testbase /tmp/samba-testbase
+    - echo "Running cmd script/autobuild.py $AUTOBUILD_JOB_NAME --verbose --nocleanup --keeplogs --tail --testbase /tmp/samba-testbase"
+    - script/autobuild.py $AUTOBUILD_JOB_NAME    --verbose --nocleanup --keeplogs --tail --testbase /tmp/samba-testbase
 
 others:
   extends: .shared_template