diff --git a/integration-tests/deployment/devenv/build_env.go b/integration-tests/deployment/devenv/build_env.go
index bd0b620e993..027a011eed0 100644
--- a/integration-tests/deployment/devenv/build_env.go
+++ b/integration-tests/deployment/devenv/build_env.go
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ func CreateDockerEnv(t *testing.T) (
 	// if JD is not provided, we will spin up a new JD
 	if jdConfig.GRPC == "" || jdConfig.WSRPC == "" {
 		jd := env.JobDistributor
+		require.NotNil(t, jd, "JD is not found in test environment")
 		jdConfig = JDConfig{
 			GRPC: jd.Grpc,
 			// we will use internal wsrpc for nodes on same docker network to connect to JD
diff --git a/integration-tests/docker/test_env/test_env_builder.go b/integration-tests/docker/test_env/test_env_builder.go
index b8bb9783e3a..610c3e29e1e 100644
--- a/integration-tests/docker/test_env/test_env_builder.go
+++ b/integration-tests/docker/test_env/test_env_builder.go
@@ -403,6 +403,12 @@ func (b *CLTestEnvBuilder) Build() (*CLClusterTestEnv, error) {
 		log.Warn().Msg("Chainlink node log scanner settings provided, but LogStream is not enabled. Ignoring Chainlink node log scanner settings, as no logs will be available.")
 	}
 
+	if b.jdConfig != nil {
+		err := b.te.StartJobDistributor(b.jdConfig)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
 	// in this case we will use the builder only to start chains, not the cluster, because currently we support only 1 network config per cluster
 	if len(b.privateEthereumNetworks) > 1 {
 		b.te.rpcProviders = make(map[int64]*test_env.RpcProvider)
@@ -545,13 +551,6 @@ func (b *CLTestEnvBuilder) Build() (*CLClusterTestEnv, error) {
 		b.defaultNodeCsaKeys = nodeCsaKeys
 	}
 
-	if b.jdConfig != nil {
-		err := b.te.StartJobDistributor(b.jdConfig)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-	}
-
 	var enDesc string
 	if len(b.te.PrivateEthereumConfigs) > 0 {
 		for _, en := range b.te.PrivateEthereumConfigs {