diff --git a/src/dev/build/tasks/optimize_task.js b/src/dev/build/tasks/optimize_task.js
index 5dde9990f8e9c..ad5158faa6e66 100644
--- a/src/dev/build/tasks/optimize_task.js
+++ b/src/dev/build/tasks/optimize_task.js
@@ -47,7 +47,8 @@ export const OptimizeBuildTask = {
     await exec(log, kibanaScript, kibanaArgs, {
       cwd: build.resolvePath('.'),
       env: {
-        FORCE_DLL_CREATION: 'true'
+        FORCE_DLL_CREATION: 'true',
+        NODE_ENV: '--max-old-space-size=2048'
       },
     });
 
diff --git a/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh b/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh
index a6eed28ad6ea6..669cd9cb8859d 100755
--- a/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh
+++ b/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh
@@ -29,13 +29,11 @@ fi
 export KIBANA_DIR="$dir"
 export XPACK_DIR="$KIBANA_DIR/x-pack"
 export PARENT_DIR="$(cd "$KIBANA_DIR/.."; pwd)"
-export NODE_OPTIONS="--max_old_space_size=2048"
 
 echo "-> KIBANA_DIR $KIBANA_DIR"
 echo "-> XPACK_DIR $XPACK_DIR"
 echo "-> PARENT_DIR $PARENT_DIR"
 echo "-> TEST_ES_SNAPSHOT_VERSION $TEST_ES_SNAPSHOT_VERSION"
-echo "-> NODE_OPTIONS $NODE_OPTIONS"
 
 ###
 ### download node