diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 23645e42e..1c31cb10d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -251,7 +251,7 @@ jobs:
           AWS_REGION: "us-east-1"
         run: |
           export SHORT_SHA=dev-${{ needs.git-sha.outputs.git_sha }}
-          export EC_VERSION="v${SHORT_SHA}"
+          export EC_VERSION="${SHORT_SHA}"
           export OPERATOR_IMAGE=proxy.replicated.com/anonymous/${{ needs.build-operator.outputs.operator-image }}
           export OPERATOR_VERSION=${{ needs.build-operator.outputs.operator-version }}
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-prod.yaml b/.github/workflows/release-prod.yaml
index 05d278b9f..ff65fd33b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-prod.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-prod.yaml
@@ -94,7 +94,6 @@ jobs:
           HELM_USER: ${{secrets.REPLICATED_LIBRARY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT}}
           HELM_PASS: ${{secrets.REPLICATED_LIBRARY_SERVICE_ACCOUNT}}
           HELM_REGISTRY: registry.replicated.com
-          CHART_VERSION: ${{needs.get-tag.outputs.tag-name}}
         run: |
           make -C operator build-chart \
             PACKAGE_VERSION=${{ needs.get-tag.outputs.tag-name }}
diff --git a/operator/Makefile b/operator/Makefile
index e3c96b509..712d33b09 100644
--- a/operator/Makefile
+++ b/operator/Makefile
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ export IMAGE_NAME ?= $(IMAGE_NAMESPACE)/embedded-cluster-operator-image
 export IMAGE_TAG ?= $(shell echo "$(PACKAGE_VERSION)" | sed 's/+/-/')
 export IMAGE ?= $(IMAGE_NAME):$(IMAGE_TAG)
 export CHART_REMOTE ?= oci://registry.replicated.com/library
-export CHART_VERSION ?= $(PACKAGE_VERSION)
+export CHART_VERSION ?= $(shell echo "$(PACKAGE_VERSION)" | sed 's/^v//')
 
 export MELANGE_CONFIG := deploy/melange.tmpl.yaml
 
diff --git a/scripts/cache-files.sh b/scripts/cache-files.sh
index 3e12db4c3..c3b539096 100755
--- a/scripts/cache-files.sh
+++ b/scripts/cache-files.sh
@@ -115,10 +115,16 @@ function metadata() {
         return 0
     fi
 
+    # append a 'v' prefix to the version if it doesn't already have one
+    local version="$EC_VERSION"
+    if ! echo "$version" | grep -q "^v"; then
+        version="v$version"
+    fi
+
     # check if a file 'metadata.json' exists in the directory
-    # if it does, upload it as metadata/${ec_version}.json
+    # if it does, upload it as metadata/${version}.json
     if [ -f metadata.json ]; then
-        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress metadata.json "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/metadata/${EC_VERSION}.json"
+        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress metadata.json "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/metadata/${version}.json"
     else
         echo "metadata.json not found, skipping upload"
     fi
@@ -130,10 +136,17 @@ function embeddedcluster() {
         echo "EC_VERSION unset, not uploading embedded cluster release"
         return 0
     fi
+
+    # append a 'v' prefix to the version if it doesn't already have one
+    local version="$EC_VERSION"
+    if ! echo "$version" | grep -q "^v"; then
+        version="v$version"
+    fi
+
     # check if a file 'embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz' exists in the directory
-    # if it does, upload it as releases/${ec_version}.tgz
+    # if it does, upload it as releases/${version}.tgz
     if [ -f embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz ]; then
-        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/releases/${EC_VERSION}.tgz"
+        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/releases/${version}.tgz"
     else
         echo "embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz not found, skipping upload"
     fi
diff --git a/scripts/create-previous-k0s-release.sh b/scripts/create-previous-k0s-release.sh
index 3a1b19fb0..504bede64 100755
--- a/scripts/create-previous-k0s-release.sh
+++ b/scripts/create-previous-k0s-release.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ function metadata() {
         return 0
     fi
 
+    # append a 'v' prefix to the version if it doesn't already have one
+    local version="$EC_VERSION"
+    if ! echo "$version" | grep -q "^v"; then
+        version="v$version"
+    fi
+
     # mutate the metadata-previous-k0s.json to create a suitable upgrade
     if [ -f metadata-previous-k0s.json ]; then
         sudo apt-get install jq -y
@@ -47,7 +53,7 @@ function metadata() {
         jq '(.Configs.charts[] | select(.name == "embedded-cluster-operator")).values += "resources:\n  requests:\n    cpu: 123m"' metadata-previous-k0s.json > install-metadata.json
         cat install-metadata.json
 
-        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress install-metadata.json "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/metadata/${EC_VERSION}.json"
+        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress install-metadata.json "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/metadata/${version}.json"
     else
         echo "metadata-previous-k0s.json not found, skipping upload"
     fi
@@ -59,10 +65,17 @@ function embeddedcluster() {
         echo "EC_VERSION unset, not uploading embedded cluster release"
         return 0
     fi
+
+    # append a 'v' prefix to the version if it doesn't already have one
+    local version="$EC_VERSION"
+    if ! echo "$version" | grep -q "^v"; then
+        version="v$version"
+    fi
+
     # check if a file 'embedded-cluster-linux-amd64-previous-k0s.tgz' exists in the directory
-    # if it does, upload it as releases/${ec_version}.tgz
+    # if it does, upload it as releases/${version}.tgz
     if [ -f embedded-cluster-linux-amd64-previous-k0s.tgz ]; then
-        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress embedded-cluster-linux-amd64-previous-k0s.tgz "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/releases/${EC_VERSION}.tgz"
+        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress embedded-cluster-linux-amd64-previous-k0s.tgz "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/releases/${version}.tgz"
     else
         echo "embedded-cluster-linux-amd64-previous-k0s.tgz not found, skipping upload"
     fi
diff --git a/scripts/create-upgrade-release.sh b/scripts/create-upgrade-release.sh
index 72d9a6ddd..f00ae1da6 100755
--- a/scripts/create-upgrade-release.sh
+++ b/scripts/create-upgrade-release.sh
@@ -40,6 +40,12 @@ function metadata() {
         return 0
     fi
 
+    # append a 'v' prefix to the version if it doesn't already have one
+    local version="$EC_VERSION"
+    if ! echo "$version" | grep -q "^v"; then
+        version="v$version"
+    fi
+
     # mutate the metadata.json to create a suitable upgrade
     if [ -f metadata.json ]; then
         sudo apt-get install jq -y
@@ -47,7 +53,7 @@ function metadata() {
         jq '(.Configs.charts[] | select(.name == "embedded-cluster-operator")).values += "resources:\n  requests:\n    cpu: 123m"' metadata-upgrade.json > upgrade-metadata.json
         cat upgrade-metadata.json
 
-        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress upgrade-metadata.json "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/metadata/${EC_VERSION}.json"
+        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress upgrade-metadata.json "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/metadata/${version}.json"
     else
         echo "metadata.json not found, skipping upload"
     fi
@@ -59,10 +65,17 @@ function embeddedcluster() {
         echo "EC_VERSION unset, not uploading embedded cluster release"
         return 0
     fi
+
+    # append a 'v' prefix to the version if it doesn't already have one
+    local version="$EC_VERSION"
+    if ! echo "$version" | grep -q "^v"; then
+        version="v$version"
+    fi
+
     # check if a file 'embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz' exists in the directory
-    # if it does, upload it as releases/${ec_version}.tgz
+    # if it does, upload it as releases/${version}.tgz
     if [ -f embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz ]; then
-        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/releases/${EC_VERSION}.tgz"
+        retry 3 aws s3 cp --no-progress embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz "s3://${S3_BUCKET}/releases/${version}.tgz"
     else
         echo "embedded-cluster-linux-amd64.tgz not found, skipping upload"
     fi