diff --git a/.ci/jenkins/Jenkinsfile.deploy b/.ci/jenkins/Jenkinsfile.deploy
index 4e30c0c3d5c..771331d5692 100644
--- a/.ci/jenkins/Jenkinsfile.deploy
+++ b/.ci/jenkins/Jenkinsfile.deploy
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ imageUtils = null
 
 pipeline {
     agent {
-        docker { 
+        docker {
             image env.AGENT_DOCKER_BUILDER_IMAGE
             args env.AGENT_DOCKER_BUILDER_ARGS
             label util.avoidFaultyNodes()
@@ -52,7 +52,6 @@ pipeline {
         OPTAPLANNER_CI_EMAIL_TO = credentials("${JENKINS_EMAIL_CREDS_ID}")
 
         PR_BRANCH_HASH = "${util.generateHash(10)}"
-
     }
 
     stages {
@@ -103,7 +102,7 @@ pipeline {
 
         stage('Prepare for PR') {
             when {
-                expression { return isRelease() || isCreatePr() }
+                expression { return isCreatePr() }
             }
             steps {
                 script {
@@ -144,19 +143,15 @@ pipeline {
                            .withProperty('maven.test.failure.ignore', true)
                            .withProperty('operator.image.build')
                            .skipTests(params.SKIP_TESTS)
-                        def Closure mavenRunClosure = {
-                            configFileProvider([configFile(fileId: env.MAVEN_SETTINGS_CONFIG_FILE_ID, variable: 'MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE')]) {
-                                mavenCommand.withSettingsXmlFile(MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE).run("clean $installOrDeploy")
-                            }
-                        }
+
                         if (isRelease()) {
                             release.gpgImportKeyFromStringWithoutPassword(getReleaseGpgSignKeyCredsId())
                             mavenCommand.withProfiles(['apache-release'])
-                            mavenRunClosure()
-                        } else {
-                            mavenRunClosure()
                         }
 
+                        configFileProvider([configFile(fileId: env.MAVEN_SETTINGS_CONFIG_FILE_ID, variable: 'MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE')]) {
+                            mavenCommand.withSettingsXmlFile(MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE).run("clean $installOrDeploy")
+                        }
                     }
                     if (isRelease()) {
                         updateAntoraYaml(optaplannerFolder)
@@ -176,7 +171,7 @@ pipeline {
         stage('Build Quickstarts') {
             steps {
                 script {
-                    configFileProvider([configFile(fileId: env.MAVEN_SETTINGS_CONFIG_FILE_ID, variable: 'MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE')]){
+                    configFileProvider([configFile(fileId: env.MAVEN_SETTINGS_CONFIG_FILE_ID, variable: 'MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE')]) {
                         getOptaplannerQuickstartsMavenCommand()
                                 .withProperty('maven.test.failure.ignore', true)
                                 .skipTests(params.SKIP_TESTS)
@@ -197,7 +192,7 @@ pipeline {
 
         stage('Create PRs') {
             when {
-                expression { return isRelease() || isCreatePr() }
+                expression { return isCreatePr() }
             }
             steps {
                 script {
@@ -217,6 +212,18 @@ pipeline {
             }
         }
 
+        stage('Commit and Create Tag') {
+            when {
+                expression { return isRelease() }
+            }
+            steps {
+                script {
+                    commitAndCreateTag(optaplannerFolder, getBuildBranch())
+                    commitAndCreateTag(quickstartsFolder, getQuickStartsBranch())
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
         stage('Push a temporary operator image to a registry') {
             when {
                 expression { return isRelease() }
@@ -255,7 +262,7 @@ pipeline {
 void sendErrorNotification() {
     if (params.SEND_NOTIFICATION) {
         String additionalInfo = "**[${getBuildBranch()}] Optaplanner - Deploy**"
-        mailer.sendMarkdownTestSummaryNotification("CI failures", [env.OPTAPLANNER_CI_EMAIL_TO], additionalInfo)
+        mailer.sendMarkdownTestSummaryNotification('CI failures', [env.OPTAPLANNER_CI_EMAIL_TO], additionalInfo)
     } else {
         echo 'No notification sent per configuration'
     }
@@ -335,6 +342,20 @@ void prepareForPR(String folder) {
     }
 }
 
+void commitAndCreateTag(String folder, String buildBranch) {
+    dir(folder) {
+        def commitMsg = "[${buildBranch}] Update project version to ${getProjectVersion()}"
+        githubscm.setUserConfigFromCreds(getGitAuthorPushCredsId())
+        githubscm.commitChanges(commitMsg, {
+            githubscm.findAndStageNotIgnoredFiles('pom.xml')
+            githubscm.findAndStageNotIgnoredFiles('build.gradle')
+            githubscm.findAndStageNotIgnoredFiles('antora.yml')
+        })
+        githubscm.tagRepository(getGitTagName())
+        githubscm.pushRemoteTag('origin', getGitTagName(), getGitAuthorPushCredsId())
+    }
+}
+
 void commitAndCreatePR(String folder, String repo, String buildBranch) {
     dir(folder) {
         def commitMsg = "[${buildBranch}] Update project version to ${getProjectVersion()}"
@@ -385,7 +406,7 @@ MavenCommand getOptaplannerQuickstartsMavenCommand() {
  * Builds the parent modules and the BOM so that project depending on these artifacts can resolve.
  */
 void mavenCleanInstallOptaPlannerParents() {
-    configFileProvider([configFile(fileId: env.MAVEN_SETTINGS_CONFIG_FILE_ID, variable: 'MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE')]){
+    configFileProvider([configFile(fileId: env.MAVEN_SETTINGS_CONFIG_FILE_ID, variable: 'MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE')]) {
         getOptaplannerMavenCommand()
                 .skipTests(true)
                 .withOptions(['-U', '-pl org.optaplanner:optaplanner-build-parent,org.optaplanner:optaplanner-bom', '-am'])
@@ -403,7 +424,7 @@ void runMavenDeploy(MavenCommand mvnCmd, String localDeploymentId = '') {
         mvnCmd.withDeployRepository(env.MAVEN_DEPLOY_REPOSITORY)
     }
 
-    configFileProvider([configFile(fileId: env.MAVEN_SETTINGS_CONFIG_FILE_ID, variable: 'MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE')]){
+    configFileProvider([configFile(fileId: env.MAVEN_SETTINGS_CONFIG_FILE_ID, variable: 'MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE')]) {
         mvnCmd
           .withSettingsXmlFile(MAVEN_SETTINGS_FILE)
           .skipTests(true)
@@ -532,4 +553,8 @@ String getReleaseGpgSignKeyCredsId() {
 
 String getReleaseGpgSignPassphraseCredsId() {
     return env.RELEASE_GPG_SIGN_PASSPHRASE_CREDS_ID
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
+
+String getGitTagName() {
+    return params.GIT_TAG_NAME
+}
diff --git a/.ci/jenkins/dsl/jobs.groovy b/.ci/jenkins/dsl/jobs.groovy
index 64a62c5919f..d189091f687 100644
--- a/.ci/jenkins/dsl/jobs.groovy
+++ b/.ci/jenkins/dsl/jobs.groovy
@@ -149,19 +149,14 @@ void setupProjectReleaseJob() {
 
         GIT_BRANCH_NAME: "${GIT_BRANCH}",
         GIT_AUTHOR: "${GIT_AUTHOR_NAME}",
-
-        DEFAULT_STAGING_REPOSITORY: "${MAVEN_NEXUS_STAGING_PROFILE_URL}",
-        ARTIFACTS_REPOSITORY: "${MAVEN_ARTIFACTS_REPOSITORY}",
-        OPTAPLANNER_LATEST_STREAM: "${GIT_MAIN_BRANCH}"
     ])
     KogitoJobTemplate.createPipelineJob(this, jobParams)?.with {
         parameters {
             stringParam('RESTORE_FROM_PREVIOUS_JOB', '', 'URL to a previous stopped release job which needs to be continued')
 
-            stringParam('OPTAPLANNER_VERSION', '', 'Project version of OptaPlanner and its examples to release as Major.minor.micro')
-            stringParam('OPTAPLANNER_RELEASE_BRANCH', '', '(optional) Use to override the release branch name deduced from the OPTAPLANNER_VERSION')
+            stringParam('RELEASE_VERSION', '', 'Project version of OptaPlanner and its examples to release as Major.minor.micro')
 
-            stringParam('DROOLS_VERSION', '', '(optional) Drools version to be set to the project before releasing the artifacts.')
+            stringParam('GIT_TAG_NAME', '', 'Git tag to create. i.e.: 10.0.0-rc1')
 
             booleanParam('SKIP_TESTS', false, 'Skip all tests')
         }
@@ -370,6 +365,8 @@ void setupDeployJob(JobType jobType, String envName = '') {
             stringParam('OPERATOR_IMAGE_REGISTRY_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS_ID', "${CLOUD_IMAGE_REGISTRY_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS_ID}", 'Image registry token credentials id.')
             stringParam('OPERATOR_IMAGE_NAMESPACE', "${CLOUD_IMAGE_NAMESPACE}", 'Operator image namespace to use to deploy image.')
             stringParam('OPERATOR_IMAGE_TAG', '', 'Image tag to use to deploy the operator image. OptaPlanner project version if not set.')
+
+            stringParam('GIT_TAG_NAME', '', 'Optional if not RELEASE. Tag to be created in the repository')
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/.ci/jenkins/project/Jenkinsfile.release b/.ci/jenkins/project/Jenkinsfile.release
index b52329f201d..61fcf539d45 100644
--- a/.ci/jenkins/project/Jenkinsfile.release
+++ b/.ci/jenkins/project/Jenkinsfile.release
@@ -22,10 +22,8 @@ import org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.libs.Library
 @Library('jenkins-pipeline-shared-libraries')_
 
 OPTAPLANNER_DEPLOY = 'optaplanner-deploy'
-OPTAPLANNER_PROMOTE = 'optaplanner-promote'
 
 ARTIFACTS_STAGING_STAGE = 'stage.artifacts.staging'
-ARTIFACTS_RELEASE_STAGE = 'stage.artifacts.release'
 
 JOB_PROPERTY_PREFIX = 'build'
 JOB_RESULT_PROPERTY_KEY = 'result'
@@ -54,24 +52,17 @@ pipeline {
                         echo "Release properties imported from previous job: ${releaseProperties}"
                     }
 
-                    assert getOptaPlannerVersion()
+                    assert getReleaseVersion()
 
                     currentBuild.displayName = getDisplayName()
 
-                    sendNotification("Release Pipeline has started...\nOptaplanner version = ${getOptaPlannerVersion()}\n=> ${env.BUILD_URL}")
-
-                    // Safety measure to not publish to main JBoss
-                    if (getGitAuthor() != 'apache' && !getArtifactsRepositoryParam()) {
-                        sendNotification("Git Author is different from `apache` and no `ARTIFACTS_REPOSITORY` parameter has been provided. Are you sure you want to continue ? => ${env.BUILD_URL}input")
-                        input message: 'Should the pipeline continue with no `ARTIFACTS_REPOSITORY` defined ?', ok: 'Yes'
-                    }
+                    sendNotification("Release Pipeline has started...\nOptaplanner version = ${getReleaseVersion()}\n=> ${env.BUILD_URL}")
                 }
             }
             post {
                 always {
-                    setReleasePropertyIfneeded('optaplanner.version', getOptaPlannerVersion())
-                    setReleasePropertyIfneeded('optaplanner.branch', getOptaPlannerReleaseBranch())
-                    setReleasePropertyIfneeded('drools.version', getDroolsVersion())
+                    setReleasePropertyIfneeded('release.version', getReleaseVersion())
+                    setReleasePropertyIfneeded('git.tag.name', getGitTagName())
                 }
             }
         }
@@ -82,7 +73,6 @@ pipeline {
                     def buildParams = getDefaultBuildParams()
                     addSkipTestsParam(buildParams)
                     addSkipIntegrationTestsParam(buildParams)
-                    addStringParam(buildParams, 'QUICKSTARTS_BUILD_BRANCH_NAME', getOptaPlannerReleaseBranch())
                     buildJob(OPTAPLANNER_DEPLOY, buildParams)
                 }
             }
@@ -92,54 +82,12 @@ pipeline {
             steps {
                 script {
                     if (!areArtifactsStaged()) {
-                        sendNotification("All artifacts have been staged. You can find them here: ${getStagingRepository()}")
+                        sendNotification('All artifacts have been staged.')
                     }
                     setArtifactsStaged()
                 }
             }
         }
-
-        stage('Are staged artifacts released?') {
-            when {
-                // Execute only if artifacts repository was not given, which means the staging repository has been created
-                expression { return !getArtifactsRepositoryParam() && !areArtifactsReleased() }
-            }
-            steps {
-                script {
-                    String body = "${getOptaPlannerVersion()} artifacts are ready for release.\n" +
-                                 "Please release the staging repositories and then confirm here: ${env.BUILD_URL}input"
-                    sendNotification(body)
-                    input message: 'Has the staging repository been released ?', ok: 'Yes'
-
-                    sendNotification('Artifacts have been released. Finalizing now the release ...')
-                    setArtifactsReleased()
-                }
-            }
-        }
-
-        stage('Promote OptaPlanner') {
-            when {
-                expression { return isJobConsideredOk(OPTAPLANNER_DEPLOY) }
-            }
-            steps {
-                script {
-                    def buildParams = getDefaultBuildParams()
-                    addDeployBuildUrlParam(buildParams, OPTAPLANNER_DEPLOY)
-
-                    buildJob(OPTAPLANNER_PROMOTE, buildParams)
-                }
-            }
-        }
-
-        stage('Setup next snapshot version') {
-            steps {
-                script {
-                    def buildParams = []
-                    addStringParam(buildParams, 'OPTAPLANNER_VERSION', util.getNextVersion(getOptaPlannerVersion(), 'micro'))
-                    build(job: '../setup-branch/0-setup-branch', wait: false, parameters: buildParams, propagate: false)
-                }
-            }
-        }
     }
     post {
         always {
@@ -301,9 +249,10 @@ def readPropertiesFromUrl(String url, String propsFilename) {
 
 List getDefaultBuildParams() {
     List buildParams = []
-    addDisplayNameParam(buildParams, getDisplayName(getOptaPlannerVersion()))
-    addStringParam(buildParams, 'PROJECT_VERSION', getOptaPlannerVersion())
-    addStringParam(buildParams, 'DROOLS_VERSION', getDroolsVersion())
+    addDisplayNameParam(buildParams, getDisplayName(getReleaseVersion()))
+    addStringParam(buildParams, 'PROJECT_VERSION', getReleaseVersion())
+    addStringParam(buildParams, 'DROOLS_VERSION', getReleaseVersion())
+    addStringParam(buildParams, 'GIT_TAG_NAME', getGitTagName())
     return buildParams
 }
 
@@ -350,30 +299,14 @@ String getDisplayName(version = '') {
     return "Release ${version}"
 }
 
-String getOptaPlannerVersion() {
-    return params.OPTAPLANNER_VERSION ?: getReleaseProperty('optaplanner.version')
-}
-
-String getDroolsVersion() {
-    return params.DROOLS_VERSION ?: getReleaseProperty('drools.version')
+String getReleaseVersion() {
+    return params.RELEASE_VERSION ?: getReleaseProperty('release.version')
 }
 
 String getGitAuthor() {
     return env.GIT_AUTHOR
 }
 
-String getArtifactsRepositoryParam() {
-    return env['ARTIFACTS_REPOSITORY'] ?: ''
-}
-
-String getOptaPlannerReleaseBranch() {
-    return params.OPTAPLANNER_RELEASE_BRANCH ?: (getReleaseProperty('optaplanner.branch') ?: util.getReleaseBranchFromVersion(getOptaPlannerVersion()))
-}
-
-String getStagingRepository() {
-    return getArtifactsRepositoryParam() ?: env.DEFAULT_STAGING_REPOSITORY
-}
-
 void setReleasePropertyIfneeded(String key, def value) {
     if (value) {
         releaseProperties[key] = value
@@ -402,10 +335,6 @@ void setArtifactsStaged() {
     setReleasePropertyIfneeded(ARTIFACTS_STAGING_STAGE, true)
 }
 
-boolean areArtifactsReleased() {
-    return hasReleaseProperty(ARTIFACTS_RELEASE_STAGE)
-}
-
-void setArtifactsReleased() {
-    setReleasePropertyIfneeded(ARTIFACTS_RELEASE_STAGE, true)
+String getGitTagName() {
+    return params.GIT_TAG_NAME ?: getReleaseProperty('git.tag.name')
 }