diff --git a/package.nix b/package.nix
index c3e565399..a7c8923e8 100644
--- a/package.nix
+++ b/package.nix
@@ -216,7 +216,8 @@ in {
   ] ++ lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isStatic unixtools.hexdump
   ;
 
-  buildInputs = lib.optionals doBuild [
+  buildInputs = lib.optionals doBuild (
+  [
     brotli
     bzip2
     curl
@@ -237,16 +238,14 @@ in {
     ++ lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isx86_64 libcpuid
     # There have been issues building these dependencies
     ++ lib.optional (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform && (stdenv.isLinux || stdenv.isDarwin))
-      (aws-sdk-cpp.override {
-        apis = ["s3" "transfer"];
-        customMemoryManagement = false;
-      })
-  ;
+      aws-sdk-cpp
+  );
 
-  propagatedBuildInputs = [
+  propagatedBuildInputs = lib.optionals doBuild ([
     boost
     nlohmann_json
-  ] ++ lib.optional enableGC boehmgc;
+  ] ++ lib.optional enableGC boehmgc
+  );
 
   dontBuild = !attrs.doBuild;
   doCheck = attrs.doCheck;
diff --git a/packaging/dependencies.nix b/packaging/dependencies.nix
index b77e1d14f..e0737593f 100644
--- a/packaging/dependencies.nix
+++ b/packaging/dependencies.nix
@@ -79,6 +79,15 @@ scope: {
   inherit stdenv versionSuffix;
   version = lib.fileContents ../.version + versionSuffix;
 
+  aws-sdk-cpp = (pkgs.aws-sdk-cpp.override {
+    apis = [ "s3" "transfer" ];
+    customMemoryManagement = false;
+  }).overrideAttrs {
+    # only a stripped down version is built, which takes a lot less resources
+    # to build, so we don't need a "big-parallel" machine.
+    requiredSystemFeatures = [ ];
+  };
+
   libseccomp = pkgs.libseccomp.overrideAttrs (_: rec {
     version = "2.5.5";
     src = pkgs.fetchurl {
diff --git a/src/libstore/package.nix b/src/libstore/package.nix
index 02ff4194a..4582ba0d2 100644
--- a/src/libstore/package.nix
+++ b/src/libstore/package.nix
@@ -66,10 +66,7 @@ mkMesonDerivation (finalAttrs: {
   ] ++ lib.optional stdenv.hostPlatform.isLinux libseccomp
     # There have been issues building these dependencies
     ++ lib.optional (stdenv.hostPlatform == stdenv.buildPlatform && (stdenv.isLinux || stdenv.isDarwin))
-      (aws-sdk-cpp.override {
-        apis = ["s3" "transfer"];
-        customMemoryManagement = false;
-      })
+      aws-sdk-cpp
   ;
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [