diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index aa1bae1b225c..115ae03e0638 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ task javaPostCommit() {
   dependsOn ":sdks:java:extensions:zetasketch:postCommit"
   dependsOn ":sdks:java:io:google-cloud-platform:postCommit"
   dependsOn ":sdks:java:io:kinesis:integrationTest"
+  dependsOn ":sdks:java:extensions:ml:postCommit"
   dependsOn ":javaHadoopVersionsTest"
   dependsOn ":sdks:java:io:kafka:kafkaVersionsCompatibilityTest"
 }
diff --git a/sdks/java/extensions/ml/build.gradle b/sdks/java/extensions/ml/build.gradle
index 9139caf78fdc..d7ab4caabb5e 100644
--- a/sdks/java/extensions/ml/build.gradle
+++ b/sdks/java/extensions/ml/build.gradle
@@ -44,11 +44,30 @@ dependencies {
     testRuntimeOnly project(":runners:google-cloud-dataflow-java")
 }
 
-project.test {
-    def gcpProject = project.findProperty("gcpProject") ?: 'apache-beam-testing'
-    include "**/**IT.class"
-    def pipelineOptions = [
-            "--project=${gcpProject}"
-    ]
-    systemProperty "beamTestPipelineOptions", JsonOutput.toJson(pipelineOptions)
+/**
+ * These are integration tests with the GCP ML services and the DirectRunner.
+ */
+task integrationTest(type: Test) {
+  group = "Verification"
+  def gcpProject = project.findProperty('gcpProject') ?: 'apache-beam-testing'
+  def gcpTempRoot = project.findProperty('gcpTempRoot') ?: 'gs://temp-storage-for-end-to-end-tests'
+  systemProperty "beamTestPipelineOptions", JsonOutput.toJson([
+          "--runner=DirectRunner",
+          "--project=${gcpProject}",
+          "--tempRoot=${gcpTempRoot}",
+  ])
+
+  // Disable Gradle cache: these ITs interact with live service that should always be considered "out of date"
+  outputs.upToDateWhen { false }
+
+  include '**/*IT.class'
+  maxParallelForks 4
+  classpath = sourceSets.test.runtimeClasspath
+  testClassesDirs = sourceSets.test.output.classesDirs
+}
+
+task postCommit {
+  group = "Verification"
+  description = "Integration tests of ML service connectors using the DirectRunner."
+  dependsOn integrationTest
 }