diff --git a/elastic/logs/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json b/elastic/logs/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
index 46a8acd6..efb92cdd 100644
--- a/elastic/logs/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
+++ b/elastic/logs/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
       "index": "logs-*",
       "operation": "refresh"
     },
+    {# serverless-shard-recovery-marker-start #}{%- if build_flavor != "serverless" or serverless_operator == true -%}
     {
       "name": "add-retention-lease",
       "operation": {
@@ -89,5 +90,6 @@
       "warmup-iterations": 10,
       "iterations": 20
     }
+    {%- endif -%}{# serverless-shard-recovery-marker-end #}
   ]
 }
diff --git a/elastic/security/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json b/elastic/security/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
index fca1c258..015a4638 100644
--- a/elastic/security/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
+++ b/elastic/security/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
       "ingest-percentage": {{ ingest_percentage | default(100) }},
       "clients": {{ p_bulk_indexing_clients }}
     },
+    {# serverless-shard-recovery-marker-start #}{%- if build_flavor != "serverless" or serverless_operator == true -%}
     {
       "name": "add-retention-lease",
       "operation": {
@@ -44,5 +45,6 @@
       "warmup-iterations": 10,
       "iterations": 20
     }
+    {%- endif -%}{# serverless-shard-recovery-marker-end #}
   ]
 }
diff --git a/tsdb/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json b/tsdb/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
index 1139136d..2b039594 100644
--- a/tsdb/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
+++ b/tsdb/challenges/synthetic-source-recovery.json
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@
       }
     },
     {%- endif -%}{# serverless-post-ingest-sleep-marker-end #}
+    {# serverless-shard-recovery-marker-start #}{%- if build_flavor != "serverless" or serverless_operator == true -%}
     {
       "name": "add-retention-lease",
       "operation": {
@@ -117,5 +118,6 @@
       "warmup-iterations": 10,
       "iterations": 20
     }
+    {%- endif -%}{# serverless-shard-recovery-marker-end #}
   ]
 }