diff --git a/athena-snowflake/Dockerfile b/athena-snowflake/Dockerfile
index 8be8478258..870c325667 100644
--- a/athena-snowflake/Dockerfile
+++ b/athena-snowflake/Dockerfile
@@ -1,9 +1,18 @@
-FROM public.ecr.aws/lambda/java:17
+# Argument for Java version, defaulting to 11
+ARG JAVA_VERSION=11
+# Use the specified version of Java
+FROM public.ecr.aws/lambda/java:${JAVA_VERSION}
+
+# Argument for Java tool options, defaulting to an empty string
+ARG JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS=""
+# Set the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS environment variable for Java 17
+ENV JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS=${JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS}
 
 # Copy function code and runtime dependencies from Maven layout
 COPY target/athena-snowflake.zip ${LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT}
+
 # Unpack the jar
 RUN jar xf athena-snowflake.zip
 
-# Set the CMD to your handler (could also be done as a parameter override outside of the Dockerfile)
-CMD [ "com.amazonaws.athena.connectors.snowflake.SnowflakeMuxCompositeHandler" ]
\ No newline at end of file
+# Set the CMD to your handler
+CMD [ "com.amazonaws.athena.connectors.snowflake.SnowflakeMuxCompositeHandler" ]
diff --git a/athena-snowflake/athena-snowflake.yaml b/athena-snowflake/athena-snowflake.yaml
index 657a339da7..0646c8a5e6 100644
--- a/athena-snowflake/athena-snowflake.yaml
+++ b/athena-snowflake/athena-snowflake.yaml
@@ -54,21 +54,12 @@ Parameters:
     Description: "(Optional) An IAM policy ARN to use as the PermissionsBoundary for the created Lambda function's execution role"
     Default: ''
     Type: String
-  JavaVersion:
-    Description: "(Optional) Specify the Java version for the Lambda function. Default is '17'; use '11' for Java 11 or '8' for Java 8."
-    Type: String
-    AllowedValues:
-      - "17"
-      - "11"
-      - "8"
-    Default: "17"
 Conditions:
   HasPermissionsBoundary: !Not [ !Equals [ !Ref PermissionsBoundaryARN, "" ] ]
   HasSecurityGroups: !Not [ !Equals [ !Join ["", !Ref SecurityGroupIds], "" ] ]
   HasSubnets: !Not [ !Equals [ !Join ["", !Ref SubnetIds], "" ] ]
   IsRegionBAH: !Equals [!Ref "AWS::Region", "me-south-1"]
   IsRegionHKG: !Equals [!Ref "AWS::Region", "ap-east-1"]
-  IsJava17: !Equals [!Ref JavaVersion, "17"]
 Resources:
   JdbcConnectorConfig:
     Type: 'AWS::Serverless::Function'
@@ -79,7 +70,6 @@ Resources:
           spill_bucket: !Ref SpillBucket
           spill_prefix: !Ref SpillPrefix
           default: !Ref DefaultConnectionString
-          JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS: !If [IsJava17, "--add-opens=java.base/java.nio=ALL-UNNAMED", !Ref "AWS::NoValue"]
       FunctionName: !Ref LambdaFunctionName
       PackageType: "Image"
       ImageUri: !Sub
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index fbb14673b4..01010db816 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -9,11 +9,7 @@
     <description>The Amazon Athena Query Federation SDK allows you to customize Amazon Athena with your own code.</description>
     <url>https://github.com/awslabs/aws-athena-query-federation</url>
     <properties>
-        <!-- Uncomment to target java 8 -->
-        <!--<maven.compiler.release>8</maven.compiler.release>-->
-        <!-- Uncomment to target java 11 -->
-        <!--<maven.compiler.release>11</maven.compiler.release>-->
-        <maven.compiler.release>17</maven.compiler.release>
+        <maven.compiler.release>11</maven.compiler.release>
         <maven.compiler.plugin.version>3.13.0</maven.compiler.plugin.version>
         <!--- to meet engine version 1.12.533-->
         <aws-sdk-v2.version>2.29.29</aws-sdk-v2.version>
@@ -387,11 +383,23 @@
         </plugins>
     </build>
     <profiles>
+        <profile>
+            <id>java8</id>
+            <activation>
+                <jdk>1.8</jdk>
+            </activation>
+            <properties>
+                <maven.compiler.release>8</maven.compiler.release>
+            </properties>
+        </profile>
         <profile>
             <id>java17</id>
             <activation>
                 <jdk>17</jdk>
             </activation>
+            <properties>
+                <maven.compiler.release>17</maven.compiler.release>
+            </properties>
             <build>
                 <plugins>
                     <plugin>