diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 60e0ff523dd67d537bd12ff1f5d4b88ad92b5db7..1de1e5dffa231bc5eebdd563e682a34a970e0506 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -860,7 +860,7 @@ uninterruptible:
 
 branch-is-up-to-date-with-target-pre:
   extends:
-    - .rules-merge-request
+    - .rules-merge-request-to-float-pc
   stage: prevalidate
   needs: []
   tags:
@@ -876,7 +876,7 @@ branch-is-up-to-date-with-target-pre:
 
 branch-is-up-to-date-with-target-post:
   extends:
-    - .rules-merge-request
+    - .rules-merge-request-to-float-pc
   stage: postvalidate
   tags:
     - ivas-linux
@@ -1048,6 +1048,7 @@ build-codec-linux-make:
     - .build-job-linux
   tags:
     - ivas-linux
+  timeout: "10 minutes"
   script:
     - *print-common-info
     - *activate-Werror-linux
@@ -1064,7 +1065,7 @@ build-codec-linux-instrumented-make:
       when: never
   extends:
     - .build-job-linux
-  timeout: "7 minutes"
+  timeout: "10 minutes"
   tags:
     - ivas-linux
   script:
@@ -1080,6 +1081,7 @@ build-codec-sanitizers-linux:
     - .rules-basis
   tags:
     - ivas-linux
+  timeout: "10 minutes"
   script:
     - *update-scripts-repo
     - *print-common-info
@@ -1096,7 +1098,7 @@ build-codec-windows-msbuild:
       when: never
   extends:
     - .build-job-windows
-  timeout: "7 minutes"
+  timeout: "10 minutes"
   tags:
     - ivas-windows    
   script:
@@ -1111,7 +1113,7 @@ build-codec-windows-msbuild:
 split-rendering-smoke-test:
   extends:
     - .test-job-linux
-    - .rules-merge-request
+    - .rules-merge-request-to-float-pc
   needs: ["build-codec-linux-make"]
   stage: test
   script:
@@ -1135,7 +1137,7 @@ split-rendering-smoke-test:
 lc3-wrapper-unit-test:
   extends:
     - .test-job-linux
-    - .rules-merge-request
+    - .rules-merge-request-to-float-pc
   needs: ["build-codec-linux-make"]
   stage: test
   script:
@@ -1147,10 +1149,10 @@ lc3-wrapper-unit-test:
     - scripts/split_rendering/lc3plus_float/ivas_lc3plus_unit_test
 
 # compare split-rendering bitexactness between target and source branch
-.split-rendering-pytest-on-merge-request:
+split-rendering-pytest-on-merge-request:
   extends:
     - .test-job-linux-needs-testv-dir
-    - .rules-merge-request
+    - .rules-merge-request-to-float-pc
   needs: ["build-codec-linux-make"]
   # TODO: set reasonable timeout, will most likely take less
   timeout: "30 minutes"