diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/ipi/conf/aws/ipi-conf-aws-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/ipi/conf/aws/ipi-conf-aws-commands.sh
index f691997ee433c..8c338711fd7fe 100755
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/ipi/conf/aws/ipi-conf-aws-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/ipi/conf/aws/ipi-conf-aws-commands.sh
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ compute:
 - name: worker
   platform:
     aws:
+      type: ${COMPUTE_NODE_TYPE}
       zones:
       - ${zone_1:-${aws_region}a}
       - ${zone_2:-${aws_region}b}
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/ipi/conf/aws/ipi-conf-aws-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/ipi/conf/aws/ipi-conf-aws-ref.yaml
index 83c8646910653..fb8b2d5eea3fb 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/ipi/conf/aws/ipi-conf-aws-ref.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/ipi/conf/aws/ipi-conf-aws-ref.yaml
@@ -9,5 +9,10 @@ ref:
     requests:
       cpu: 10m
       memory: 100Mi
+  env:
+    - name: COMPUTE_NODE_TYPE
+      default: 'null'
+      documentation: |-
+        The instance type to use for compute nodes (e.g. AWS https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/)
   documentation: |-
     The IPI AWS configure step generates the AWS-specific install-config.yaml contents based on the cluster profile and optional input files.