diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 507f3f27c..5cda22b6c 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -224,6 +224,17 @@ e2e-ci-test-disruptive: ginkgo
 .PHONY: e2e-upstream-test
 e2e-upstream-test: ginkgo
 	@echo "Running upstream e2e tests..."
+	@echo "Removing OLM-installed LWS (if present) and installing v0.8.0 from GitHub..."
+	-oc delete leaderworkersetoperator cluster --ignore-not-found=true
+	-oc delete subscription leader-worker-set -n openshift-lws-operator --ignore-not-found=true
+	-oc delete csv -n openshift-lws-operator -l operators.coreos.com/leader-worker-set.openshift-lws-operator --ignore-not-found=true
+	-oc delete namespace openshift-lws-operator --ignore-not-found=true
+	@sleep 10
+	@echo "Installing Leader Worker Set v0.8.0 from GitHub releases"
+	oc apply --server-side -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/lws/releases/download/v0.8.0/manifests.yaml
+	@echo "Waiting for LWS controller to be ready"
+	@timeout 300s bash -c 'until oc get deployment lws-controller-manager -n lws-system -o jsonpath="{.status.conditions[?(@.type==\"Available\")].status}" | grep -q "True"; do sleep 10; echo "Still waiting for LWS controller..."; done'
+	@echo "Leader Worker Set v0.8.0 installed successfully"
 	oc apply -f test/e2e/bindata/assets/08_kueue_default.yaml
 	@echo "Running e2e tests on OpenShift cluster ($(shell oc whoami --show-server))"
 	mkdir -p "$(ARTIFACT_DIR)"
@@ -247,16 +258,11 @@ install-jobset-operator:
 
 .PHONY: install-lws-operator
 install-lws-operator:
-	@echo "Installing Leader Worker Set Operator"
-	oc create -f hack/manifests/lws-operator.yaml
-	@echo "Waiting for Leader Worker Set Operator CSV to be succeeded"
-	@timeout 300s bash -c 'until oc get deployment openshift-lws-operator -n openshift-lws-operator -o jsonpath="{.status.conditions[?(@.type==\"Available\")].status}" | grep -q "True"; do sleep 10; echo "Still waiting..."; done'
-	@echo "Leader Worker Set Operator installed"
-	@echo "Creating Leader Worker Set Instance"
-	oc create -f hack/manifests/lws-operand.yaml
-	@echo "Waiting for Leader Worker Set Operand to be installed"
-	@timeout 300s bash -c 'until oc get deployment lws-controller-manager -n openshift-lws-operator -o jsonpath="{.status.conditions[?(@.type==\"Available\")].status}" | grep -q "True"; do sleep 10; echo "Still waiting..."; done'
-	@echo "Leader Worker Set Operand installed"
+	@echo "Installing Leader Worker Set v0.8.0 from GitHub releases"
+	oc apply --server-side -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/lws/releases/download/v0.8.0/manifests.yaml
+	@echo "Waiting for LWS controller to be ready"
+	@timeout 300s bash -c 'until oc get deployment lws-controller-manager -n lws-system -o jsonpath="{.status.conditions[?(@.type==\"Available\")].status}" | grep -q "True"; do sleep 10; echo "Still waiting for LWS controller..."; done'
+	@echo "Leader Worker Set v0.8.0 installed successfully"
 
 .PHONY: build-must
 build-must:
diff --git a/bindata/assets/kueue-operator/clusterroles/clusterrole-manager-role.yaml b/bindata/assets/kueue-operator/clusterroles/clusterrole-manager-role.yaml
index b7aa994c5..2d1ad758b 100644
--- a/bindata/assets/kueue-operator/clusterroles/clusterrole-manager-role.yaml
+++ b/bindata/assets/kueue-operator/clusterroles/clusterrole-manager-role.yaml
@@ -298,6 +298,14 @@ rules:
   - get
   - list
   - watch
+- apiGroups:
+  - leaderworkerset.x-k8s.io
+  resources:
+  - leaderworkersets/status
+  verbs:
+  - get
+  - patch
+  - update
 - apiGroups:
   - node.k8s.io
   resources:
diff --git a/upstream/kueue/patch/e2e.patch b/upstream/kueue/patch/e2e.patch
index 68ec24fbd..72a1754ba 100644
--- a/upstream/kueue/patch/e2e.patch
+++ b/upstream/kueue/patch/e2e.patch
@@ -43,3 +43,17 @@ index cc7d1f901..a68b8b9f4 100644
  	return ns
  }
  
+
+diff --git a/test/e2e/singlecluster/leaderworkerset_test.go b/test/e2e/singlecluster/leaderworkerset_test.go
+index 037e44a9d..55db71901 100644
+--- a/test/e2e/singlecluster/leaderworkerset_test.go
++++ b/test/e2e/singlecluster/leaderworkerset_test.go
+@@ -741,7 +741,7 @@ var _ = ginkgo.Describe("LeaderWorkerSet integration", ginkgo.Label("area:single
+ 						g.Expect(k8sClient.Get(ctx, util.WorkloadKeyForLeaderWorkerSet(lws, strconv.Itoa(i)), wl)).To(gomega.Succeed(),
+ 							"workload for surge group %d should exist", i)
+ 					}
+-				}, util.LongTimeout, util.Interval).Should(gomega.Succeed())
++				}, util.VeryLongTimeout, util.Interval).Should(gomega.Succeed())
+ 			})
+ 
+ 			ginkgo.By(fmt.Sprintf("Verify rolling update completes successfully with %d replicas running", lwsReplicas), func() {
diff --git a/upstream/kueue/src b/upstream/kueue/src
index 02700fcd8..96f243d1a 160000
--- a/upstream/kueue/src
+++ b/upstream/kueue/src
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 02700fcd85623c27572cb7d104dbc3bc58993e08
+Subproject commit 96f243d1aea3b3ea2df02b91e205167ff1306e38