diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 03d0822e66..49767de0b7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -123,10 +123,6 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: ${{ env.DEFAULT_PYTHON }}
           cache-key: ${{ needs.common.outputs.cache-key }}
-      - name: Install importtime-waterfall
-        run: |
-          . venv/bin/activate
-          pip install importtime-waterfall==1.0.0
       - name: Check import time against budget
         run: |
           . venv/bin/activate
diff --git a/requirements_test.txt b/requirements_test.txt
index bb98375cb6..e0eb4396c5 100644
--- a/requirements_test.txt
+++ b/requirements_test.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,6 @@ pytest-asyncio==1.3.0
 pytest-xdist==3.8.0
 asyncmock==0.4.2
 hypothesis==6.92.1
+
+# Used by the import-time regression check (.github/workflows/ci.yml → import-time job)
+importtime-waterfall==1.0.0