diff --git a/.github/actions/build-policy-wasm/action.yaml b/.github/actions/build-policy-wasm/action.yaml
index 863406d262..d7a44538bc 100644
--- a/.github/actions/build-policy-wasm/action.yaml
+++ b/.github/actions/build-policy-wasm/action.yaml
@@ -8,6 +8,33 @@ description: >
 runs:
   using: composite
   steps:
+    # build_policy_wasm.sh already prefers a cached binary at .cache/opa/<version>/ before reaching
+    # out to openpolicyagent.org, but nothing ever populated that directory in CI, so every run
+    # depended on that download — and it has repeatedly failed, taking a required job down with it.
+    # Restoring the cache means the fetch is only needed the first time a pinned version is seen.
+    - name: Resolve pinned OPA version
+      id: opa
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        REPO_ROOT: ${{ github.action_path }}/../../..
+      run: |
+        # Parse rather than source: the script builds the WASM on execution, so sourcing it here
+        # would do the work twice (and before the cache is restored).
+        version="$(sed -n 's/^OPA_VERSION="\${OPA_VERSION:-\([^}]*\)}"/\1/p' "${REPO_ROOT}/script/build_policy_wasm.sh" | head -1)"
+        if [ -z "${version}" ]; then
+          echo "Could not parse the pinned OPA version from script/build_policy_wasm.sh" >&2
+          echo "If the OPA_VERSION line moved, update this step — a wrong cache key silently disables caching." >&2
+          exit 1
+        fi
+        echo "version=${version}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+        echo "Pinned OPA version: ${version}"
+
+    - name: Cache the pinned OPA binary
+      uses: actions/cache@v4
+      with:
+        path: .cache/opa
+        key: opa-${{ runner.os }}-${{ runner.arch }}-${{ steps.opa.outputs.version }}
+
     - name: Build policy WASM
       shell: bash
       env:
diff --git a/script/build_policy_wasm.sh b/script/build_policy_wasm.sh
index 90abf84943..dd93be78e5 100755
--- a/script/build_policy_wasm.sh
+++ b/script/build_policy_wasm.sh
@@ -112,12 +112,20 @@ download_opa() {
   url="${OPA_DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL}/${OPA_VERSION}/${asset}"
   sha_url="${url}.sha256"
   echo "Downloading OPA ${OPA_VERSION} from ${url}..." >&2
-  if ! curl -fsSL "${url}" -o "${tmp_bin}"; then
+  # Bound both a single attempt (--max-time) and the whole retry window (--retry-max-time).
+  # --max-time RESETS on each retry, so without --retry-max-time the aggregate is unbounded: 4
+  # attempts could run for minutes. That matters because callers impose their own ceiling —
+  # embedded_pdp/policy_wasm.py runs this script with DEFAULT_BUILD_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=120 — and would
+  # kill the build mid-retry. Budget: <=45s aggregate + <=30s final attempt here, <=15s + <=10s for
+  # the checksum, leaving headroom for the `opa build` itself inside 120s.
+  if ! curl -fsSL --retry 3 --retry-delay 2 --retry-all-errors \
+      --connect-timeout 10 --max-time 30 --retry-max-time 45 "${url}" -o "${tmp_bin}"; then
     echo "Failed to download OPA binary from ${url}." >&2
     print_opa_help "${asset}"
     exit 1
   fi
-  if ! curl -fsSL "${sha_url}" -o "${tmp_sha}"; then
+  if ! curl -fsSL --retry 3 --retry-delay 2 --retry-all-errors \
+      --connect-timeout 10 --max-time 10 --retry-max-time 15 "${sha_url}" -o "${tmp_sha}"; then
     echo "Failed to download OPA checksum from ${sha_url}." >&2
     print_opa_help "${asset}"
     exit 1