diff --git a/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh b/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..06abe7bde61b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -e
+
+dir="$(pwd)"
+cacheDir="${CACHE_DIR:-"/tmp/kibana"}"
+
+
+###
+### check that we seem to be in a kibana project
+###
+if [ -f "$dir/package.json" ] && [ -f "$dir/.node-version" ]; then
+  echo "Setting up node.js and npm in $dir"
+else
+  echo "src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh must be run within a kibana repo"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+
+###
+### download node
+###
+nodeVersion="$(cat $dir/.node-version)"
+nodeUrl="https://nodejs.org/download/release/v$nodeVersion/node-v$nodeVersion-linux-x64.tar.gz"
+nodeDir="$cacheDir/node/$nodeVersion"
+echo " -- node: version=v${nodeVersion} dir=$nodeDir"
+
+echo " -- setting up node.js"
+if [ -x "$nodeDir/bin/node" ] && [ "$($nodeDir/bin/node --version)" == "v$nodeVersion" ]; then
+  echo " -- reusing node.js install"
+else
+  if [ -d "$nodeDir" ]; then
+    echo " -- clearing previous node.js install"
+    rm -rf "$nodeDir"
+  fi
+
+  echo " -- downloading node.js from $nodeUrl"
+  mkdir -p "$nodeDir"
+  curl --silent "$nodeUrl" | tar -xz -C "$nodeDir" --strip-components=1
+fi
+
+
+###
+### "install" node by extending the path with it's bin directory
+###
+export PATH="$nodeDir/bin:$PATH"
+
+
+###
+### install dependencies
+###
+echo " -- installing node.js dependencies"
+npm install --cache "$cacheDir/npm"
diff --git a/test/scripts/_jenkins_setup.sh b/test/scripts/_jenkins_setup.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 60c352337422..000000000000
--- a/test/scripts/_jenkins_setup.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-set -e
-
-###*****###
-### CWD ###
-###*****###
-if [ -n "$WORKSPACE" ]; then
-  cd "$WORKSPACE"
-else
-  echo "Unable to find the $WORKSPACE environment variable, is this jenkins?"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-
-###*****###
-### NVM ###
-###*****###
-export NVM_DIR="/var/lib/jenkins/.nvm"
-NVM_SCRIPT="$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"
-if [ -s "$NVM_SCRIPT" ]; then
-  . "$NVM_SCRIPT"  # load nvm
-else
-  echo "Unable to find the nvm script at \"$NVM_SCRIPT\""
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-nvm install "$(cat .node-version)"
-
-###*****###
-### NPM ###
-###*****###
-npm install
-
-
-if [ -z "$(npm bin)" ]; then
-  echo "npm does not know where it stores executables..... huh??"
-  exit 1
-fi
diff --git a/test/scripts/jenkins_docs.sh b/test/scripts/jenkins_docs.sh
index 2df826ffc1a8..3c2335acfb29 100644
--- a/test/scripts/jenkins_docs.sh
+++ b/test/scripts/jenkins_docs.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 set -e
-source "$(dirname $0)/_jenkins_setup.sh"
+source "$(dirname $0)/../../src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh"
 
 "$(npm bin)/grunt" jenkins:docs;
diff --git a/test/scripts/jenkins_selenium.sh b/test/scripts/jenkins_selenium.sh
index d035147563a8..acb086f3e293 100755
--- a/test/scripts/jenkins_selenium.sh
+++ b/test/scripts/jenkins_selenium.sh
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 set -e
-source "$(dirname $0)/_jenkins_setup.sh"
+source "$(dirname $0)/../../src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh"
 
 "$(npm bin)/grunt" build --release;
 
diff --git a/test/scripts/jenkins_unit.sh b/test/scripts/jenkins_unit.sh
index ebeceabed8ee..59ddb28e0627 100755
--- a/test/scripts/jenkins_unit.sh
+++ b/test/scripts/jenkins_unit.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 set -e
-source "$(dirname $0)/_jenkins_setup.sh"
+source "$(dirname $0)/../../src/dev/ci_setup/setup.sh"
 
 xvfb-run "$(npm bin)/grunt" jenkins:unit;