diff --git a/services/directory/azure-pipelines.api.yaml b/services/directory/azure-pipelines.api.yaml
index e3b35ff9d..8de23ed81 100644
--- a/services/directory/azure-pipelines.api.yaml
+++ b/services/directory/azure-pipelines.api.yaml
@@ -35,12 +35,10 @@ pr:
 pool:
   vmImage: ubuntu-latest
 
-steps:
-  - task: CmdLine@2
-    displayName: enable docker BuildKit
-    inputs:
-      script: COMPOSE_DOCKER_CLI_BUILD=1 && DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
+variables:
+  DOCKER_BUILDKIT: 1
 
+steps:
   - task: DockerCompose@0
     displayName: build
     inputs:
diff --git a/services/directory/azure-pipelines.migrate.yaml b/services/directory/azure-pipelines.migrate.yaml
index fe711de0e..2acb7afa2 100644
--- a/services/directory/azure-pipelines.migrate.yaml
+++ b/services/directory/azure-pipelines.migrate.yaml
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ pr:
 pool:
   vmImage: ubuntu-latest
 
+variables:
+  DOCKER_BUILDKIT: 1
+
 steps:
   - checkout: none
 
@@ -145,11 +148,6 @@ steps:
           echo "##vso[task.setvariable variable=committed;isOutput=true]true"
         fi
 
-  - task: CmdLine@2
-    displayName: enable docker BuildKit
-    inputs:
-      script: COMPOSE_DOCKER_CLI_BUILD=1 && DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
-
   - task: DockerCompose@0
     displayName: build test-migrations
     condition: and(eq(variables['abortJustMigrated.aborted'], 'false'), eq(variables['commitOrAbandon.committed'], 'true'), succeeded())
diff --git a/web/azure-pipelines.yaml b/web/azure-pipelines.yaml
index 8ca20f3de..470cd4104 100644
--- a/web/azure-pipelines.yaml
+++ b/web/azure-pipelines.yaml
@@ -15,12 +15,10 @@ pr:
 pool:
   vmImage: ubuntu-latest
 
-steps:
-  - task: CmdLine@2
-    displayName: enable docker BuildKit
-    inputs:
-      script: COMPOSE_DOCKER_CLI_BUILD=1 && DOCKER_BUILDKIT=1
+variables:
+  DOCKER_BUILDKIT: 1
 
+steps:
   - task: Docker@2
     displayName: build
     inputs: