diff --git a/.buildkite/pipelines/upload_dra_to_gcs.yml.sh b/.buildkite/pipelines/upload_dra_to_gcs.yml.sh
index fe26e653f8..7b64c7c21e 100755
--- a/.buildkite/pipelines/upload_dra_to_gcs.yml.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/pipelines/upload_dra_to_gcs.yml.sh
@@ -8,20 +8,51 @@
 # compliance with the Elastic License 2.0 and the foregoing additional
 # limitation.
 #
-# Upload all artifacts, both platform-specific and all-platforms, to
-# GCS, where release manager builds will download them from.
+# Stage DRA artifacts and trigger unified-release DRA processing via the
+# elastic/dra-prep-buildkite-plugin (replaces the Release Manager Docker step).
 #
 
 . .buildkite/scripts/common/base.sh
 
+STACK_VERSION=$(awk -F= '/^elasticsearchVersion/ {print $2}' gradle.properties | xargs echo)
+
+if [ -n "${VERSION_QUALIFIER:-}" ] ; then
+    STACK_VERSION="${STACK_VERSION}-${VERSION_QUALIFIER}"
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$BUILD_SNAPSHOT" ] ; then
+    BUILD_SNAPSHOT=true
+fi
+if [ "$BUILD_SNAPSHOT" = "true" ] ; then
+    DRA_WORKFLOW=snapshot
+    STACK_VERSION="${STACK_VERSION}-SNAPSHOT"
+else
+    DRA_WORKFLOW=staging
+fi
+
 cat <<EOL
 steps:
-  - label: ":rocket: Upload DRA artifacts to GCS :gcloud:"
-    key: "upload_dra_artifacts_to_gcs"
+  - label: ":package: DRA Prep"
+    key: "dra-prep"
     depends_on: create_dra_artifacts
-    command:
-      - 'buildkite-agent artifact download "build/distributions/*" --step create_dra_artifacts .'
-      - '.buildkite/scripts/steps/upload_dra_to_gcs.sh'
+    command: ".buildkite/scripts/stage_artifacts.sh"
+    env:
+      DRA_WORKFLOW: "${DRA_WORKFLOW}"
     agents:
       provider: gcp
+    plugins:
+      - elastic/dra-prep#v0.1.5:
+          product_id: "ml-cpp"
+          stack_version: "${STACK_VERSION}"
+          workflow: "${DRA_WORKFLOW}"
+
+  - label: ":pipeline: Trigger DRA processing"
+    trigger: "unified-release-dra-processing"
+    async: true
+    depends_on: "dra-prep"
+    build:
+      env:
+        DRA_PRODUCT_ID: "ml-cpp"
+        DRA_STACK_VERSION: "${STACK_VERSION}"
+        DRA_WORKFLOW: "${DRA_WORKFLOW}"
 EOL
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/stage_artifacts.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/stage_artifacts.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..e0d383d738
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/stage_artifacts.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
+# or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
+# 2.0 and the following additional limitation. Functionality enabled by the
+# files subject to the Elastic License 2.0 may only be used in production when
+# invoked by an Elasticsearch process with a license key installed that permits
+# use of machine learning features. You may not use this file except in
+# compliance with the Elastic License 2.0 and the foregoing additional
+# limitation.
+#
+# Stage DRA artifacts into artifacts/ for the elastic/dra-prep plugin.
+#
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+WORKFLOW="${DRA_WORKFLOW:?DRA_WORKFLOW is required}"
+
+echo "--- :compression: Downloading ${WORKFLOW} artifacts from create_dra_artifacts step"
+rm -rf build/distributions artifacts
+mkdir -p build/distributions artifacts
+
+buildkite-agent artifact download 'build/distributions/*.zip' . --step create_dra_artifacts
+buildkite-agent artifact download 'build/distributions/*.csv' . --step create_dra_artifacts
+
+echo "--- :package: Staging ${WORKFLOW} artifacts"
+cp build/distributions/*.zip artifacts/
+cp build/distributions/*.csv artifacts/
+
+if ! ls artifacts/* 1>/dev/null 2>&1; then
+  echo "ERROR: no ${WORKFLOW} artifacts found in artifacts/." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Staged artifacts:"
+ls -1 artifacts/
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/upload_dra_to_gcs.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/steps/upload_dra_to_gcs.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 407a99926b..0000000000
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/steps/upload_dra_to_gcs.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,70 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-# Copyright Elasticsearch B.V. and/or licensed to Elasticsearch B.V. under one
-# or more contributor license agreements. Licensed under the Elastic License
-# 2.0 and the following additional limitation. Functionality enabled by the
-# files subject to the Elastic License 2.0 may only be used in production when
-# invoked by an Elasticsearch process with a license key installed that permits
-# use of machine learning features. You may not use this file except in
-# compliance with the Elastic License 2.0 and the foregoing additional
-# limitation.
-#
-# Upload all artifacts, both platform-specific and all-platforms, to
-# GCS, where release manager builds will download them from.
-#
-
-. ./dev-tools/docker/prefetch_docker_image.sh
-
-# Default to a snapshot build
-if [ -z "$BUILD_SNAPSHOT" ] ; then 
-    BUILD_SNAPSHOT=true 
-fi
-
-# The "branch" here selects which "$BRANCH.gradle" file of release manager is used
-VERSION=$(awk -F= '/elasticsearchVersion/ {print $2}' gradle.properties)
-MAJOR=$(echo $VERSION | awk -F. '{ print $1 }')
-MINOR=$(echo $VERSION | awk -F. '{ print $2 }')
-if [ -n "$(git ls-remote --heads origin $MAJOR.$MINOR)" ] ; then 
-    BRANCH=$MAJOR.$MINOR 
-elif [ -n "$(git ls-remote --heads origin $MAJOR.x)" ] ; then 
-    BRANCH=$MAJOR.x 
-else 
-    BRANCH=main 
-fi
-
-if [ "$BUILD_SNAPSHOT" = false ] ; then 
-    WORKFLOW=staging 
-else 
-    WORKFLOW=snapshot 
-fi
-
-# Allow other users access to read the artifacts so they are readable in the
-# container
-chmod a+r build/distributions/*
-
-# Allow other users write access to create checksum files
-chmod a+w build/distributions
-
-# Variables named *_ACCESS_KEY & *_SECRET_KEY are redacted in BuildKite’s environment
-# so we store the vault role and secret id values in them for security
-VAULT_ACCESS_KEY=`vault read -field=role_id secret/ci/elastic-ml-cpp/gcs/creds/prelertartifacts`
-VAULT_SECRET_KEY=`vault read -field=secret_id secret/ci/elastic-ml-cpp/gcs/creds/prelertartifacts`
-
-IMAGE=docker.elastic.co/infra/release-manager:latest
-prefetch_docker_image "$IMAGE"
-
-# Generate checksum files and upload to GCS
-docker run --rm \
-  --name release-manager \
-  -e VAULT_ADDR='https://secrets.elastic.co:8200' \
-  -e VAULT_ROLE_ID=$VAULT_ACCESS_KEY \
-  -e VAULT_SECRET_ID=$VAULT_SECRET_KEY \
-  --mount type=bind,readonly=false,src="$PWD",target=/artifacts \
-  "$IMAGE" \
-    cli collect \
-      --project ml-cpp \
-      --branch "$BRANCH" \
-      --version "$VERSION" \
-      --commit `git rev-parse HEAD` \
-      --workflow "$WORKFLOW" \
-      --qualifier "$VERSION_QUALIFIER" \
-      --artifact-set main
diff --git a/dev-tools/ingest_build_timings.py b/dev-tools/ingest_build_timings.py
index cbc0d2f219..76958ddbef 100755
--- a/dev-tools/ingest_build_timings.py
+++ b/dev-tools/ingest_build_timings.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
     "clone_eigen": "linux-x86_64",
     "create_dra_artifacts": "linux-x86_64",
     "upload_dra_artifacts": "linux-x86_64",
-    "upload_dra_artifacts_to_gcs": "linux-x86_64",
+    "dra-prep": "linux-x86_64",
 }