diff --git a/.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml b/.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml
index eef0f3fde4..334dd00bb8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/e2e-test.yml
@@ -42,12 +42,22 @@ jobs:
           driver: docker
 
       - name: Set up Java and Maven
+        if: matrix.sample != 'sample-operators/operations'
         uses: actions/setup-java@v5
         with:
           java-version: 25
           distribution: temurin
           cache: 'maven'
 
+      - name: Set up GraalVM
+        if: matrix.sample == 'sample-operators/operations'
+        uses: graalvm/setup-graalvm@v1
+        with:
+          java-version: '25'
+          distribution: 'graalvm-community'
+          cache: 'maven'
+          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
       - name: Build SDK
         run: ./mvnw install -DskipTests
 
@@ -58,4 +68,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Run E2E tests as a deployment
         run: |
           eval $(minikube -p minikube docker-env)
-          ./mvnw jib:dockerBuild test -P end-to-end-tests -Dtest.deployment=remote -pl ${{ matrix.sample }}
+          if [ "${{ matrix.sample }}" = "sample-operators/operations" ]; then
+            ./mvnw -Pnative package -DskipTests -pl ${{ matrix.sample }}
+            ./mvnw jib:dockerBuild test -P end-to-end-tests,native -Dtest.deployment=remote -pl ${{ matrix.sample }}
+          else
+            ./mvnw jib:dockerBuild test -P end-to-end-tests -Dtest.deployment=remote -pl ${{ matrix.sample }}
+          fi
diff --git a/sample-operators/operations/pom.xml b/sample-operators/operations/pom.xml
index 5813767244..3220111f1f 100644
--- a/sample-operators/operations/pom.xml
+++ b/sample-operators/operations/pom.xml
@@ -132,4 +132,90 @@
     </plugins>
   </build>
 
+  <profiles>
+    <profile>
+      <id>native</id>
+      <build>
+        <finalName>operations-operator</finalName>
+        <plugins>
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+            <artifactId>maven-jar-plugin</artifactId>
+            <configuration>
+              <archive>
+                <manifest>
+                  <mainClass>io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.OperationsSampleOperator</mainClass>
+                </manifest>
+              </archive>
+            </configuration>
+          </plugin>
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.graalvm.buildtools</groupId>
+            <artifactId>native-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <version>1.1.0</version>
+            <extensions>true</extensions>
+            <configuration>
+              <imageName>operations-operator</imageName>
+              <mainClass>io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.OperationsSampleOperator</mainClass>
+              <fallback>false</fallback>
+              <metadataRepository>
+                <enabled>true</enabled>
+              </metadataRepository>
+              <buildArgs>
+                <buildArg>--no-fallback</buildArg>
+                <buildArg>--enable-url-protocols=http,https</buildArg>
+                <buildArg>-H:+ReportExceptionStackTraces</buildArg>
+                <buildArg>-H:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions</buildArg>
+                <buildArg>-H:+AddAllCharsets</buildArg>
+                <buildArg>--initialize-at-run-time=org.apache.logging.log4j.core.filter.MutableThreadContextMapFilter</buildArg>
+              </buildArgs>
+            </configuration>
+            <executions>
+              <execution>
+                <id>build-native</id>
+                <goals>
+                  <goal>compile-no-fork</goal>
+                </goals>
+                <phase>package</phase>
+              </execution>
+            </executions>
+          </plugin>
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>com.google.cloud.tools</groupId>
+            <artifactId>jib-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+            <version>${jib-maven-plugin.version}</version>
+            <configuration>
+              <from>
+                <image>gcr.io/distroless/java-base-debian12</image>
+              </from>
+              <to>
+                <image>operations-operator</image>
+              </to>
+              <containerizingMode>packaged</containerizingMode>
+              <extraDirectories>
+                <paths>
+                  <path>
+                    <from>${project.build.directory}</from>
+                    <includes>operations-operator</includes>
+                    <into>/app</into>
+                  </path>
+                </paths>
+                <permissions>
+                  <permission>
+                    <file>/app/operations-operator</file>
+                    <mode>755</mode>
+                  </permission>
+                </permissions>
+              </extraDirectories>
+              <container>
+                <entrypoint>/app/operations-operator</entrypoint>
+                <jvmFlags combine.self="override"/>
+              </container>
+            </configuration>
+          </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+      </build>
+    </profile>
+  </profiles>
+
 </project>
diff --git a/sample-operators/operations/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/io.javaoperatorsdk/sample-operations/reflect-config.json b/sample-operators/operations/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/io.javaoperatorsdk/sample-operations/reflect-config.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ee8d190881
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sample-operators/operations/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/io.javaoperatorsdk/sample-operations/reflect-config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+[
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.customresource.OperationsCustomResource1",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "queryAllDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "queryAllDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.customresource.OperationsCustomResource2",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "queryAllDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "queryAllDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.customresource.OperationsSpec",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.customresource.OperationsStatus",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.OperationsReconciler1",
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.OperationsReconciler2",
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.sample.operations.AbstractOperationsReconciler",
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.micrometer.registry.otlp.AggregationTemporality",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "allPublicMethods": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.micrometer.registry.otlp.HistogramFlavor",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "allPublicMethods": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.impl.KubernetesClientImpl",
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "allPublicMethods": true,
+    "allPublicConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.client.KubernetesClient",
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allPublicMethods": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.Config",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "allPublicMethods": true,
+    "allPublicConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.Cluster",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.NamedCluster",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.Context",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.NamedContext",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.AuthInfo",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.NamedAuthInfo",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.NamedExtension",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.Preferences",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.AuthProviderConfig",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.ExecConfig",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.ExecEnvVar",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.DefaultKubernetesResourceList",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "allPublicMethods": true,
+    "allPublicConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.fabric8.kubernetes.api.model.ListMeta",
+    "allDeclaredFields": true,
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "allPublicMethods": true,
+    "allPublicConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.processing.retry.GenericRetry",
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "allPublicConstructors": true
+  },
+  {
+    "name": "io.javaoperatorsdk.operator.processing.event.rate.LinearRateLimiter",
+    "allDeclaredMethods": true,
+    "allDeclaredConstructors": true,
+    "allPublicConstructors": true
+  }
+]
diff --git a/sample-operators/operations/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/io.javaoperatorsdk/sample-operations/resource-config.json b/sample-operators/operations/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/io.javaoperatorsdk/sample-operations/resource-config.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..780e1e722a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sample-operators/operations/src/main/resources/META-INF/native-image/io.javaoperatorsdk/sample-operations/resource-config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{
+  "resources": {
+    "includes": [
+      { "pattern": "log4j2\\.xml" },
+      { "pattern": "otlp-config\\.yaml" },
+      { "pattern": "io/javaoperatorsdk/operator/sample/.*\\.yaml" },
+      { "pattern": "META-INF/services/.*" },
+      { "pattern": ".*\\.properties" }
+    ]
+  },
+  "bundles": []
+}