diff --git a/t/t5000-valgrind.t b/t/t5000-valgrind.t
index 08255348..aac546f6 100755
--- a/t/t5000-valgrind.t
+++ b/t/t5000-valgrind.t
@@ -6,6 +6,14 @@ test_description='Run broker under valgrind with a small workload'
 test -n "$FLUX_TESTS_LOGFILE" && set -- "$@" --logfile
 . `dirname $0`/sharness.sh
 
+#  Do not run valgrind test by default unless FLUX_ENABLE_VALGRIND_TEST
+#   is set in environment (e.g. by CI), or the test run run with -d, --debug
+#
+if test -z "$FLUX_ENABLE_VALGRIND_TEST" && test "$debug" = ""; then
+    skip_all='skipping valgrind tests since FLUX_ENABLE_VALGRIND_TEST not set'
+    test_done
+fi
+
 if ! which valgrind >/dev/null; then
     skip_all='skipping valgrind tests since no valgrind executable found'
     test_done