diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/aro-hcp/automation/image-update/aro-hcp-automation-image-update-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/aro-hcp/automation/image-update/aro-hcp-automation-image-update-commands.sh
index 730699469c729..8f8fccdc16407 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/aro-hcp/automation/image-update/aro-hcp-automation-image-update-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/aro-hcp/automation/image-update/aro-hcp-automation-image-update-commands.sh
@@ -134,22 +134,13 @@ export AZURE_TENANT_ID
 debug "azure: authentication configured successfully (credentials redacted)"
 
 # Image Updater: Build and run the image-updater tool
-debug "image: change to tooling/image-updater directory"
-cd tooling/image-updater
-
-debug "image: build image-updater binary"
-run make build
-
 info "image: fetching the latest image digests for all components"
 if [[ ${VERBOSITY-0} -ge 2 ]]; then
-  ./image-updater update --verbosity 1 --config config.yaml | tee "${IMAGE_UPDATER_OUTPUT}"
+  VERBOSITY=1 make image-updater update | tee "${IMAGE_UPDATER_OUTPUT}"
 else
-  ./image-updater update --config config.yaml > "${IMAGE_UPDATER_OUTPUT}"
+  VERBOSITY=0 make image-updater update > "${IMAGE_UPDATER_OUTPUT}"
 fi
 
-debug "image: return to root directory"
-cd ../..
-
 # Check if there are any changes from image updates
 if [[ $(git status --porcelain) == "" ]]; then
   info "image: no new digests found for any component images"
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/aro-hcp/automation/image-update/aro-hcp-automation-image-update-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/aro-hcp/automation/image-update/aro-hcp-automation-image-update-ref.yaml
index 12897d17016df..fec9efed8180f 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/aro-hcp/automation/image-update/aro-hcp-automation-image-update-ref.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/aro-hcp/automation/image-update/aro-hcp-automation-image-update-ref.yaml
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ ref:
     documentation: |-
       The URL of the Prow job.
   - name: VERBOSITY
-    default: "1"
+    default: "2"
     documentation: |-
       The debug level. 0 for no debug, 1 for debug, 2 for debug with verbose output.
   credentials: