diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-and-test-arm.yml b/.github/workflows/build-and-test-arm.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2020178d4e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-and-test-arm.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+name: build-and-test-arm
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [ main ]
+    tags:
+      - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*'
+  merge_group:
+  pull_request:
+env:
+  TEST_RESULTS: testbed/tests/results/junit/results.xml
+  # Make sure to exit early if cache segment download times out after 2 minutes.
+  # We limit cache download as a whole to 5 minutes.
+  SEGMENT_DOWNLOAD_TIMEOUT_MINS: 2
+  GOPROXY: https://goproxy1.cncf.selfactuated.dev,direct
+
+# Do not cancel this workflow on main. See https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector-contrib/pull/16616
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.head_ref || github.run_id }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+jobs:
+  arm-unittest-matrix:
+    if: ${{ github.actor != 'dependabot[bot]' && (contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'Run ARM') || github.event_name == 'push' || github.event_name == 'merge_group') }}
+    runs-on: actuated-arm64-4cpu-4gb
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version: "~1.22.2"
+          cache: false
+      - name: Cache Go
+        id: go-cache
+        timeout-minutes: 5
+        uses: actions/cache@v4
+        with:
+          path: |
+            ~/go/bin
+            ~/go/pkg/mod
+          key: go-build-cache-${{ runner.os }}-go-${{ hashFiles('**/go.sum') }}
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        if: steps.go-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        run: make gomoddownload
+      - name: Install Tools
+        if: steps.go-cache.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        run: make install-tools
+      - name: Run Unit Tests
+        run: make -j4 gotest
+  arm-unittest:
+    if: ${{ github.actor != 'dependabot[bot]' && (contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'Run ARM') || github.event_name == 'push' || github.event_name == 'merge_group') }}
+    runs-on: actuated-arm64-4cpu-4gb
+    needs: [arm-unittest-matrix]
+    steps:
+      - name: Print result
+        run: echo ${{ needs.arm-unittest-matrix.result }}
+      - name: Interpret result
+        run: |
+          if [[ success == ${{ needs.arm-unittest-matrix.result }} ]]
+          then
+            echo "All matrix jobs passed!"
+          else
+            echo "One or more matrix jobs failed."
+            false
+          fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml b/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
index b7ed51a68e4..d66b22dd09e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-and-test.yml
@@ -137,10 +137,7 @@ jobs:
   unittest-matrix:
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        runner: [ubuntu-latest, actuated-arm64-4cpu-4gb]
-        exclude:
-          - go-version: "~1.21.9"
-            runner: actuated-arm64-4cpu-4gb
+        runner: [ubuntu-latest]
         go-version: ["~1.22", "~1.21.9"] # 1.20 needs quotes otherwise it's interpreted as 1.2
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.runner }}
     needs: [setup-environment]