diff --git a/.github/workflows/benchmark-machine.yml b/.github/workflows/benchmark-machine.yml
index 316cc55261..9ec848368d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/benchmark-machine.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/benchmark-machine.yml
@@ -9,21 +9,27 @@ on:
         required: true
 
 env:
-  INSTANCE_ID: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_INSTANCE_ID }}  # remote AWS host to run benchmarking
+  INSTANCE_ID: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_INSTANCE_ID }}
   BENCHMARK_SSH_USER: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_SSH_USER }}
-  BENCHMARK_SSH_KEYPATH: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_SSH_KEYPATH }}
+  BENCHMARK_SSH_KEY: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_SSH_KEY }}
 
 jobs:
   ## run the benchmarking remotely
   benchmark-machine:
-    runs-on: jumphost
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout codes on ${{ github.ref }}
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
 
-      # TODO: maybe use GHA to start/stop remote instance
+      - name: Set up AWS CLI
+        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v2
+        with:
+          aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
+          aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
+          aws-region: us-east-1
+
       - name: Start remote instance
         timeout-minutes: 10
         id: start_instance
@@ -38,26 +44,30 @@ jobs:
               break
             else
               sleep 20
+              SECONDS=$((SECONDS + 20))
             fi
           done
           echo "Remote instance reachable now after $SECONDS seconds"
-          remote_ip=`aws ec2 describe-instances --filters 'Name=instance-state-name,Values=running' 'Name=instance-id,Values=${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}' --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].[PublicIpAddress]' --output text`
-          echo "Running instances ip address: $remote_ip"
+          remote_ip=$(aws ec2 describe-instances --filters 'Name=instance-state-name,Values=running' 'Name=instance-id,Values=${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}' --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].[PublicIpAddress]' --output text)
+          echo "Running instances IP address: $remote_ip"
           echo "remote_ip=$remote_ip" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
-      # exit status should propagate through ssh
       - name: Remotely benchmark machine
         timeout-minutes: 10
         run: |
-          echo "Running instances ip address: ${{ steps.start_instance.outputs.remote_ip }}"
-          ssh -x -o StrictHostKeychecking=no "${{ steps.start_instance.outputs.remote_ip }}" -l ${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_USER }} -i ${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_KEYPATH }} \
-            docker pull litentry/litentry-parachain:${{ github.event.inputs.docker_tag }} && \
-            docker run --rm litentry/litentry-parachain:${{ github.event.inputs.docker_tag }} benchmark machine --allow-fail --chain=litmus-dev
+          echo "Running instance's IP address: ${{ steps.start_instance.outputs.remote_ip }}"
+          cat << EOF > ./benchmark-server-key.pem
+          ${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_KEY }}
+          EOF
+          chmod 600 ./benchmark-server-key.pem
+          ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -i ./benchmark-server-key.pem "${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_USER }}@${{ steps.start_instance.outputs.remote_ip }}" \
+            "docker pull litentry/litentry-parachain:${{ github.event.inputs.docker_tag }} && \
+            docker run --rm litentry/litentry-parachain:${{ github.event.inputs.docker_tag }} benchmark machine --allow-fail --chain=litmus-dev"
 
       - name: Stop remote instance
         if: always()
         run: |
           aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}
           sleep 5
-          ret=`aws ec2 describe-instance-status --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }} | jq '.InstanceStatuses[0].InstanceState.Name'`
+          ret=$(aws ec2 describe-instance-status --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }} --query 'InstanceStatuses[0].InstanceState.Name' --output text)
           echo "Remote instance running state: $ret"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/benchmark-runtime-weights.yml b/.github/workflows/benchmark-runtime-weights.yml
index 32e3461b8d..a9d6d85f0c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/benchmark-runtime-weights.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/benchmark-runtime-weights.yml
@@ -30,9 +30,9 @@ on:
         required: true
 
 env:
-  INSTANCE_ID: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_INSTANCE_ID }} # remote AWS host to run benchmarking
+  INSTANCE_ID: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_INSTANCE_ID }}
   BENCHMARK_SSH_USER: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_SSH_USER }}
-  BENCHMARK_SSH_KEYPATH: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_SSH_KEYPATH }}
+  BENCHMARK_SSH_KEY: ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_SSH_KEY }}
   DOCKER_BUILDKIT: 1
 
 jobs:
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ jobs:
 
   ## run the benchmarking remotely
   benchmark:
-    runs-on: jumphost
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: build-docker
     # see https://github.com/actions/runner/issues/491
     if: |
@@ -111,25 +111,33 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           docker pull litentry/litentry-parachain:runtime-benchmarks
 
+      - name: Set up AWS CLI
+        uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v2
+        with:
+          aws-access-key-id: ${{ secrets.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID }}
+          aws-secret-access-key: ${{ secrets.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY }}
+          aws-region: us-east-1
+
       # TODO: maybe use GHA to start/stop remote instance
       - name: Start remote instance
         timeout-minutes: 10
         id: start_instance
         run: |
-          aws ec2 start-instances --region ap-southeast-1 --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}
+          aws ec2 start-instances --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}
           sleep 5
-          instance_status="aws ec2 describe-instance-status --region ap-southeast-1 --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }} --query 'InstanceStatuses[0].InstanceStatus.Status' --output text"
-          system_status="aws ec2 describe-instance-status --region ap-southeast-1 --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }} --query 'InstanceStatuses[0].SystemStatus.Status' --output text"
+          instance_status="aws ec2 describe-instance-status --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }} --query 'InstanceStatuses[0].InstanceStatus.Status' --output text"
+          system_status="aws ec2 describe-instance-status --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }} --query 'InstanceStatuses[0].SystemStatus.Status' --output text"
           SECONDS=0
           while : ; do
             if [ "$(eval $instance_status)" = "ok" ] && [ "$(eval $system_status)" = "ok" ]; then
               break
             else
               sleep 20
+              SECONDS=$((SECONDS + 20))
             fi
           done
           echo "Remote instance reachable now after $SECONDS seconds"
-          remote_ip=`aws ec2 describe-instances --region ap-southeast-1 --filters 'Name=instance-state-name,Values=running' 'Name=instance-id,Values=${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}' --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].[PublicIpAddress]' --output text`
+          remote_ip=`aws ec2 describe-instances --filters 'Name=instance-state-name,Values=running' 'Name=instance-id,Values=${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}' --query 'Reservations[*].Instances[*].[PublicIpAddress]' --output text`
           echo "Running instances ip address: $remote_ip"
           echo "remote_ip=$remote_ip" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
@@ -144,10 +152,14 @@ jobs:
           if [ "$arg" = "*" ]; then
             arg="\\$arg";
           fi
+          cat << EOF > ./benchmark-server-key.pem
+          ${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_KEY }}
+          EOF
+          chmod 600 ./benchmark-server-key.pem
           for c in $chain; do
-            ssh -x -o StrictHostKeychecking=no ${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_INSTANCE_IP }} -l ${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_USER }} 'bash -s' < scripts/benchmark-weight-remote.sh "$c" "${GITHUB_REF#refs/heads/}" "$arg"
+            ssh -x -i ./benchmark-server-key.pem -o StrictHostKeychecking=no "${{ steps.start_instance.outputs.remote_ip }}" -l ${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_USER }} 'bash -s' < scripts/benchmark-weight-remote.sh "$c" "${GITHUB_REF#refs/heads/}" "$arg"
             echo "copy generated weights files back ..."
-            scp -o StrictHostKeychecking=no "${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_USER }}"@"${{ secrets.BENCHMARK_INSTANCE_IP }}":/tmp/litentry-parachain/runtime/$c/src/weights/*.rs runtime/$c/src/weights/
+            scp -o StrictHostKeychecking=no -i ./benchmark-server-key.pem "${{ env.BENCHMARK_SSH_USER }}"@"${{ steps.start_instance.outputs.remote_ip }}":/tmp/litentry-parachain/runtime/$c/src/weights/*.rs runtime/$c/src/weights/
           done
           echo "======================"
           git status
@@ -155,9 +167,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Stop remote instance
         if: always()
         run: |
-          aws ec2 stop-instances --region ap-southeast-1 --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}
+          aws ec2 stop-instances --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }}
           sleep 5
-          ret=`aws ec2 describe-instance-status --region ap-southeast-1 --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }} | jq '.InstanceStatuses[0].InstanceState.Name'`
+          ret=`aws ec2 describe-instance-status --instance-ids ${{ env.INSTANCE_ID }} | jq '.InstanceStatuses[0].InstanceState.Name'`
           echo "Remote instance running state: $ret"
 
       - name: Create auto PR