diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0bdcc770c..dafe079af 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ ENVSUBST_VER := v1.4.2
 ENVSUBST_BIN := envsubst
 ENVSUBST := $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)/$(ENVSUBST_BIN)
 
-GOLANGCI_LINT_VER := v1.55.2
+GOLANGCI_LINT_VER := v1.56.2
 GOLANGCI_LINT_BIN := golangci-lint
 GOLANGCI_LINT := $(TOOLS_BIN_DIR)/$(GOLANGCI_LINT_BIN)-$(GOLANGCI_LINT_VER)
 
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ test-junit: $(SETUP_ENVTEST) $(GOTESTSUM) ## Run tests with verbose setting and
 	exit $$(cat $(ARTIFACTS)/junit.exitcode)
 
 .PHONY: test-e2e
-test-e2e: ## Run the end-to-end tests
+test-e2e: $(KUSTOMIZE) ## Run the end-to-end tests
 	$(MAKE) test-e2e-run
 
 LOCAL_GINKGO_ARGS ?=
@@ -214,7 +214,7 @@ test-e2e-local: ## Run e2e tests
 CONFORMANCE_E2E_ARGS ?= -kubetest.config-file=$(KUBETEST_CONF_PATH)
 CONFORMANCE_E2E_ARGS += $(E2E_ARGS)
 .PHONY: test-conformance
-test-conformance: ## Run conformance test on workload cluster.
+test-conformance: $(KUSTOMIZE) ## Run conformance test on workload cluster.
 	$(MAKE) test-e2e-run GINKGO_FOCUS="Conformance Tests" E2E_ARGS='$(CONFORMANCE_E2E_ARGS)' GINKGO_ARGS='$(LOCAL_GINKGO_ARGS)'
 
 ## --------------------------------------
diff --git a/hack/ensure-kustomize.sh b/hack/ensure-kustomize.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index 509676211..000000000
--- a/hack/ensure-kustomize.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,54 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-# Copyright 2019 The Kubernetes Authors.
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-
-set -o errexit
-set -o nounset
-set -o pipefail
-
-GOPATH_BIN="$(go env GOPATH)/bin/"
-MINIMUM_KUSTOMIZE_VERSION=3.1.0
-
-# Ensure the kustomize tool exists and is a viable version, or installs it
-verify_kustomize_version() {
-
-  # If kustomize is not available on the path, get it
-  if ! [ -x "$(command -v kustomize)" ]; then
-    if [[ "${OSTYPE}" == "linux"* ]]; then
-      echo 'kustomize not found, installing'
-      if ! [ -d "${GOPATH_BIN}" ]; then
-        mkdir -p "${GOPATH_BIN}"
-      fi
-      curl -sLo "${GOPATH_BIN}/kustomize" https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize/releases/download/v${MINIMUM_KUSTOMIZE_VERSION}/kustomize_${MINIMUM_KUSTOMIZE_VERSION}_linux_amd64
-      chmod +x "${GOPATH_BIN}/kustomize"
-    else
-      echo "Missing required binary in path: kustomize"
-      return 2
-    fi
-  fi
-
-  local kustomize_version
-  kustomize_version=$(kustomize version)
-  if [[ "${MINIMUM_KUSTOMIZE_VERSION}" != $(echo -e "${MINIMUM_KUSTOMIZE_VERSION}\n${kustomize_version}" | sort -s -t. -k 1,1 -k 2,2n -k 3,3n | head -n1) ]]; then
-    cat <<EOF
-Detected kustomize version: ${kustomize_version}.
-Requires ${MINIMUM_KUSTOMIZE_VERSION} or greater.
-Please install ${MINIMUM_KUSTOMIZE_VERSION} or later.
-EOF
-    return 2
-  fi
-}
-
-verify_kustomize_version
diff --git a/scripts/ci-conformance.sh b/scripts/ci-conformance.sh
index 281b14089..318678565 100755
--- a/scripts/ci-conformance.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci-conformance.sh
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ make --directory="${REPO_ROOT}" "${KUBECTL##*/}" "${KIND##*/}"
 
 # shellcheck source=hack/ensure-go.sh
 source "${REPO_ROOT}/hack/ensure-go.sh"
-# shellcheck source=hack/ensure-kustomize.sh
-source "${REPO_ROOT}/hack/ensure-kustomize.sh"
 
 ARTIFACTS="${ARTIFACTS:-${PWD}/_artifacts}"
 mkdir -p "${ARTIFACTS}/logs/"
diff --git a/scripts/ci-e2e.sh b/scripts/ci-e2e.sh
index ce298a265..210eec102 100755
--- a/scripts/ci-e2e.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci-e2e.sh
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@ make --directory="${REPO_ROOT}" "${KUBECTL##*/}" "${KIND##*/}"
 
 # shellcheck source=hack/ensure-go.sh
 source "${REPO_ROOT}/hack/ensure-go.sh"
-# shellcheck source=hack/ensure-kustomize.sh
-source "${REPO_ROOT}/hack/ensure-kustomize.sh"
 
 # Configure e2e tests
 export GINKGO_NODES=3