diff --git a/internal/client/gitlab.go b/internal/client/gitlab.go
index b664da1b82d..e10adb1e18a 100644
--- a/internal/client/gitlab.go
+++ b/internal/client/gitlab.go
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ func NewGitLab(ctx *context.Context, token string) (Client, error) {
 
 	var client *gitlab.Client
 	var err error
-	if ctx.Config.GitLabURLs.UseJobToken {
+	if checkUseJobToken(*ctx, token) {
 		client, err = gitlab.NewJobClient(token, options...)
 	} else {
 		client, err = gitlab.NewClient(token, options...)
@@ -495,3 +495,24 @@ func (c *gitlabClient) getMilestoneByTitle(repo Repo, title string) (*gitlab.Mil
 
 	return nil, nil
 }
+
+// checkUseJobToken examines the context and given token, and determines if We should use NewJobClient vs NewClient
+func checkUseJobToken(ctx context.Context, token string) bool {
+	// The CI_JOB_TOKEN env var is set automatically in all GitLab runners.
+	// If this comes back as empty, we aren't in a functional GitLab runner
+	ciToken := os.Getenv("CI_JOB_TOKEN")
+	if ciToken == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// We only want to use the JobToken client if we have specified
+	// UseJobToken. Older versions of GitLab don't work with this, so we
+	// want to be specific
+	if ctx.Config.GitLabURLs.UseJobToken {
+		// We may be creating a new client with a non-CI_JOB_TOKEN, for
+		// things like Homebrew publishing. We can't use the
+		// CI_JOB_TOKEN there
+		return token == ciToken
+	}
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/internal/client/gitlab_test.go b/internal/client/gitlab_test.go
index df06f9942c6..87fc12f1dc6 100644
--- a/internal/client/gitlab_test.go
+++ b/internal/client/gitlab_test.go
@@ -546,3 +546,58 @@ func TestCloseMileston(t *testing.T) {
 	err = client.CloseMilestone(ctx, repo, "never-will-exist")
 	require.Error(t, err)
 }
+
+func TestCheckUseJobToken(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		ctx     context.Context
+		token   string
+		ciToken string
+		want    bool
+		desc    string
+	}{
+		{
+			ctx: context.Context{
+				Config: config.Project{
+					GitLabURLs: config.GitLabURLs{
+						UseJobToken: true,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			token:   "real-ci-token",
+			ciToken: "real-ci-token",
+			desc:    "token and CI_JOB_TOKEN match so should return true",
+			want:    true,
+		},
+		{
+			ctx: context.Context{
+				Config: config.Project{
+					GitLabURLs: config.GitLabURLs{
+						UseJobToken: true,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			token:   "some-random-token",
+			ciToken: "real-ci-token",
+			desc:    "token and CI_JOB_TOKEN do NOT match so should return false",
+			want:    false,
+		},
+		{
+			ctx: context.Context{
+				Config: config.Project{
+					GitLabURLs: config.GitLabURLs{
+						UseJobToken: false,
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			token:   "real-ci-token",
+			ciToken: "real-ci-token",
+			desc:    "token and CI_JOB_TOKEN match, however UseJobToken is set to false, so return false",
+			want:    false,
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Setenv("CI_JOB_TOKEN", tt.ciToken)
+		got := checkUseJobToken(tt.ctx, tt.token)
+		require.Equal(t, tt.want, got, tt.desc)
+	}
+}