diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint.yml b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
index 77d2f1b49..f59fcfd72 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint.yml
@@ -18,4 +18,4 @@ jobs:
       - name: golangci-lint
         uses: golangci/golangci-lint-action@v3
         with:
-          version: "v1.55"
+          version: v1.56
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0bdcc770c..97ec6b3a9 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)
 
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ SKIP_CLEANUP ?= false
 SKIP_CREATE_MGMT_CLUSTER ?= false
 
 .PHONY: test-e2e-run
-test-e2e-run: $(ENVSUBST) $(KUBECTL) $(GINKGO) e2e-image ## Run the end-to-end tests
+test-e2e-run: $(ENVSUBST) $(KUSTOMIZE) $(KUBECTL) $(GINKGO) e2e-image ## Run the end-to-end tests
 	$(ENVSUBST) < $(E2E_CONF_FILE) > $(E2E_CONF_FILE_ENVSUBST) && \
 	time $(GINKGO) -v --trace -poll-progress-after=$(GINKGO_POLL_PROGRESS_AFTER) -poll-progress-interval=$(GINKGO_POLL_PROGRESS_INTERVAL) \
 	--tags=e2e --focus="$(GINKGO_FOCUS)" -skip="$(GINKGO_SKIP)" --nodes=$(GINKGO_NODES) --no-color=$(GINKGO_NOCOLOR) \
@@ -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)'
 
 ## --------------------------------------
@@ -287,6 +287,8 @@ $(GO_APIDIFF_BIN): $(GO_APIDIFF)
 .PHONY: $(KIND_BIN)
 $(KIND_BIN): $(KIND) ## Building Kind from tools folder
 
+.PHONY: $(KUSTOMIZE_BIN)
+$(KUSTOMIZE_BIN): $(KUSTOMIZE) ## Building kustomize from tools folder
 
 ## --------------------------------------
 ## Linting
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 ${MINIMUM_KUSTOMIZE_VERSION} or later.
-EOF
-    return 2
-  fi
-}
-
-verify_kustomize_version
diff --git a/scripts/ci-conformance.sh b/scripts/ci-conformance.sh
index 281b14089..cd8ce0829 100755
--- a/scripts/ci-conformance.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci-conformance.sh
@@ -26,12 +26,14 @@ set -o pipefail
 REPO_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/..
 KUBECTL="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin/kubectl"
 KIND="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin/kind"
-make --directory="${REPO_ROOT}" "${KUBECTL##*/}" "${KIND##*/}"
+KUSTOMIZE="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin/kustomize"
+make --directory="${REPO_ROOT}" "${KUBECTL##*/}" "${KIND##*/}" "${KUSTOMIZE##*/}"
 
 # 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"
+
+# Make sure the tools binaries are on the path.
+export PATH="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin:${PATH}"
 
 ARTIFACTS="${ARTIFACTS:-${PWD}/_artifacts}"
 mkdir -p "${ARTIFACTS}/logs/"
diff --git a/scripts/ci-e2e.sh b/scripts/ci-e2e.sh
index ce298a265..33620ea9b 100755
--- a/scripts/ci-e2e.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci-e2e.sh
@@ -26,12 +26,14 @@ set -o pipefail
 REPO_ROOT=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/..
 KUBECTL="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin/kubectl"
 KIND="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin/kind"
-make --directory="${REPO_ROOT}" "${KUBECTL##*/}" "${KIND##*/}"
+KUSTOMIZE="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin/kustomize"
+make --directory="${REPO_ROOT}" "${KUBECTL##*/}" "${KIND##*/}" "${KUSTOMIZE##*/}"
 
 # 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"
+
+# Make sure the tools binaries are on the path.
+export PATH="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin:${PATH}"
 
 # Configure e2e tests
 export GINKGO_NODES=3
@@ -273,7 +275,7 @@ EOF
     init_networks
   fi
 
-  make test-e2e
+  PATH="${REPO_ROOT}/hack/tools/bin:${PATH}" make test-e2e
   test_status="${?}"
   echo TESTSTATUS
   echo "${test_status}"