diff --git a/pkg/testing/ess/create_deployment_request.tmpl.json b/pkg/testing/ess/create_deployment_request.tmpl.json
index daa97eae262..3ef93868708 100644
--- a/pkg/testing/ess/create_deployment_request.tmpl.json
+++ b/pkg/testing/ess/create_deployment_request.tmpl.json
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@
   },
   "name": "{{ .request.Name }}",
   "metadata": {
-    "system_owned": false
+    "system_owned": false,
+    "tags": {{ json .request.Tags }}
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkg/testing/ess/deployment.go b/pkg/testing/ess/deployment.go
index 35a315d166c..2295383c631 100644
--- a/pkg/testing/ess/deployment.go
+++ b/pkg/testing/ess/deployment.go
@@ -10,19 +10,25 @@ import (
 	_ "embed"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
-	"html/template"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
 	"strings"
+	"text/template"
 	"time"
 
 	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
 )
 
+type Tag struct {
+	Key   string `json:"key"`
+	Value string `json:"value"`
+}
+
 type CreateDeploymentRequest struct {
 	Name    string `json:"name"`
 	Region  string `json:"region"`
 	Version string `json:"version"`
+	Tags    []Tag  `json:"tags"`
 }
 
 type CreateDeploymentResponse struct {
@@ -324,7 +330,9 @@ func generateCreateDeploymentRequestBody(req CreateDeploymentRequest) ([]byte, e
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("creating request template context: %w", err)
 	}
 
-	tpl, err := template.New("create_deployment_request").Parse(createDeploymentRequestTemplate)
+	tpl, err := template.New("create_deployment_request").
+		Funcs(template.FuncMap{"json": jsonMarshal}).
+		Parse(createDeploymentRequestTemplate)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("unable to parse deployment creation template: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -337,6 +345,15 @@ func generateCreateDeploymentRequestBody(req CreateDeploymentRequest) ([]byte, e
 	return bBuf.Bytes(), nil
 }
 
+func jsonMarshal(in any) (string, error) {
+	jsonBytes, err := json.Marshal(in)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s", jsonBytes), nil
+}
+
 func createDeploymentTemplateContext(csp string, req CreateDeploymentRequest) (map[string]any, error) {
 	cspSpecificContext, err := loadCspValues(csp)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/testing/ess/provisioner.go b/pkg/testing/ess/provisioner.go
index 6ebade07569..b309fdf9b66 100644
--- a/pkg/testing/ess/provisioner.go
+++ b/pkg/testing/ess/provisioner.go
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ func (p *provisioner) Provision(ctx context.Context, requests []runner.StackRequ
 	for _, r := range requests {
 		// allow up to 2 minutes for each create request
 		createCtx, createCancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 2*time.Minute)
-		resp, err := p.createDeployment(createCtx, r, map[string]string{"elastic-agent-integration-tests": "true"})
+		resp, err := p.createDeployment(createCtx, r, map[string]string{"elastic-agent-integration-tests": "true", "team": "elastic-agent"})
 		createCancel()
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
@@ -131,18 +131,28 @@ func (p *provisioner) Clean(ctx context.Context, stacks []runner.Stack) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (p *provisioner) createDeployment(ctx context.Context, r runner.StackRequest, _ map[string]string) (*CreateDeploymentResponse, error) {
+func (p *provisioner) createDeployment(ctx context.Context, r runner.StackRequest, tags map[string]string) (*CreateDeploymentResponse, error) {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, 1*time.Minute)
 	defer cancel()
 
 	p.logger.Logf("Creating stack %s (%s)", r.Version, r.ID)
 	name := fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", strings.Replace(p.cfg.Identifier, ".", "-", -1), r.ID)
+
+	// prepare tags
+	tagArray := make([]Tag, 0, len(tags))
+	for k, v := range tags {
+		tagArray = append(tagArray, Tag{
+			Key:   k,
+			Value: v,
+		})
+	}
+
 	createDeploymentRequest := CreateDeploymentRequest{
 		Name:    name,
 		Region:  p.cfg.Region,
 		Version: r.Version,
+		Tags:    tagArray,
 	}
-	//TODO handle tags
 
 	resp, err := p.client.CreateDeployment(ctx, createDeploymentRequest)
 	if err != nil {