diff --git a/.idea/runConfigurations/Jetty.xml b/.idea/runConfigurations/Jetty.xml
index a947494be..b98cd238b 100644
--- a/.idea/runConfigurations/Jetty.xml
+++ b/.idea/runConfigurations/Jetty.xml
@@ -7,8 +7,6 @@
           <option name="delegateBuildToMaven" value="false" />
           <option name="environmentProperties">
             <map>
-              <entry key="ALPINE_DATABASE_DRIVER" value="org.postgresql.Driver" />
-              <entry key="ALPINE_DATABASE_MODE" value="external" />
               <entry key="ALPINE_DATABASE_PASSWORD" value="dtrack" />
               <entry key="ALPINE_DATABASE_URL" value="jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/dtrack" />
               <entry key="ALPINE_DATABASE_USERNAME" value="dtrack" />
diff --git a/.idea/runConfigurations/Jetty_w__Dev_Services.xml b/.idea/runConfigurations/Jetty_w__Dev_Services.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..37abe9060
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.idea/runConfigurations/Jetty_w__Dev_Services.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+<component name="ProjectRunConfigurationManager">
+  <configuration default="false" name="Jetty w/ Dev Services" type="MavenRunConfiguration" factoryName="Maven">
+    <MavenSettings>
+      <option name="myGeneralSettings" />
+      <option name="myRunnerSettings">
+        <MavenRunnerSettings>
+          <option name="delegateBuildToMaven" value="false" />
+          <option name="environmentProperties">
+            <map />
+          </option>
+          <option name="jreName" value="#USE_PROJECT_JDK" />
+          <option name="mavenProperties">
+            <map />
+          </option>
+          <option name="passParentEnv" value="true" />
+          <option name="runMavenInBackground" value="true" />
+          <option name="skipTests" value="false" />
+          <option name="vmOptions" value="" />
+        </MavenRunnerSettings>
+      </option>
+      <option name="myRunnerParameters">
+        <MavenRunnerParameters>
+          <option name="cmdOptions" />
+          <option name="profiles">
+            <set />
+          </option>
+          <option name="goals">
+            <list>
+              <option value="jetty:run" />
+              <option value="-Dcheckstyle.skip" />
+              <option value="-Dlogback.configurationFile=src/main/docker/logback.xml" />
+            </list>
+          </option>
+          <option name="multimoduleDir" />
+          <option name="pomFileName" />
+          <option name="profilesMap">
+            <map>
+              <entry key="dev-services" value="true" />
+              <entry key="enhance" value="true" />
+            </map>
+          </option>
+          <option name="projectsCmdOptionValues">
+            <list />
+          </option>
+          <option name="resolveToWorkspace" value="false" />
+          <option name="workingDirPath" value="$PROJECT_DIR$" />
+        </MavenRunnerParameters>
+      </option>
+    </MavenSettings>
+    <method v="2" />
+  </configuration>
+</component>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 436f7f144..6445b9f83 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -646,6 +646,7 @@
                 <configuration>
                     <excludes>
                         <exclude>org/cyclonedx/proto/**/*</exclude>
+                        <exclude>org/dependencytrack/dev/**/*</exclude>
                         <exclude>org/dependencytrack/proto/**/*</exclude>
                     </excludes>
                 </configuration>
@@ -755,6 +756,47 @@
                 <war-embedded-finalname>${project.build.finalName}-apiserver</war-embedded-finalname>
             </properties>
         </profile>
+        <profile>
+            <id>dev-services</id>
+            <dependencies>
+                <dependency>
+                    <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>postgresql</artifactId>
+                    <version>${lib.testcontainers.version}</version>
+                    <scope>compile</scope>
+                </dependency>
+                <dependency>
+                    <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>redpanda</artifactId>
+                    <version>${lib.testcontainers.version}</version>
+                    <scope>compile</scope>
+                </dependency>
+                <dependency>
+                    <!--
+                        Unfortunately required by testcontainers:
+                        https://github.com/testcontainers/testcontainers-java/issues/970
+                    -->
+                    <groupId>junit</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>junit</artifactId>
+                    <version>${lib.junit.version}</version>
+                    <scope>compile</scope>
+                </dependency>
+            </dependencies>
+            <build>
+                <plugins>
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>org.eclipse.jetty</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>jetty-maven-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <version>${plugin.jetty.version}</version>
+                        <configuration>
+                            <systemProperties>
+                                <dev.services.enabled>true</dev.services.enabled>
+                            </systemProperties>
+                        </configuration>
+                    </plugin>
+                </plugins>
+            </build>
+        </profile>
     </profiles>
 
 </project>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/dependencytrack/dev/DevServicesInitializer.java b/src/main/java/org/dependencytrack/dev/DevServicesInitializer.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..94e0b814e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/dependencytrack/dev/DevServicesInitializer.java
@@ -0,0 +1,170 @@
+/*
+ * This file is part of Dependency-Track.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ * Copyright (c) OWASP Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
+ */
+package org.dependencytrack.dev;
+
+import alpine.Config;
+import alpine.common.logging.Logger;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.AdminClient;
+import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.NewTopic;
+import org.dependencytrack.event.kafka.KafkaTopics;
+
+import javax.servlet.ServletContextEvent;
+import javax.servlet.ServletContextListener;
+import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
+import java.lang.reflect.Field;
+import java.lang.reflect.Method;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture;
+import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
+
+import static alpine.Config.AlpineKey.DATABASE_PASSWORD;
+import static alpine.Config.AlpineKey.DATABASE_URL;
+import static alpine.Config.AlpineKey.DATABASE_USERNAME;
+import static org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.AdminClientConfig.BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG;
+import static org.apache.kafka.common.config.TopicConfig.CLEANUP_POLICY_COMPACT;
+import static org.apache.kafka.common.config.TopicConfig.CLEANUP_POLICY_CONFIG;
+import static org.dependencytrack.common.ConfigKey.KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS;
+
+/**
+ * @since 5.5.0
+ */
+public class DevServicesInitializer implements ServletContextListener {
+
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(DevServicesInitializer.class);
+    private static final String POSTGRES_IMAGE = "postgres:16-alpine";
+    private static final String REDPANDA_IMAGE = "docker.redpanda.com/vectorized/redpanda:v24.1.7";
+
+    private AutoCloseable postgresContainer;
+    private AutoCloseable redpandaContainer;
+
+    @Override
+    public void contextInitialized(final ServletContextEvent event) {
+        if (!"true".equals(System.getProperty("dev.services.enabled"))) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        final String postgresJdbcUrl;
+        final String postgresUsername;
+        final String postgresPassword;
+        final String redpandaBootstrapServers;
+        try {
+            final Class<?> startablesClass = Class.forName("org.testcontainers.lifecycle.Startables");
+            final Method deepStartMethod = startablesClass.getDeclaredMethod("deepStart", Collection.class);
+
+            final Class<?> postgresContainerClass = Class.forName("org.testcontainers.containers.PostgreSQLContainer");
+            final Constructor<?> postgresContainerConstructor = postgresContainerClass.getDeclaredConstructor(String.class);
+            postgresContainer = (AutoCloseable) postgresContainerConstructor.newInstance(POSTGRES_IMAGE);
+
+            final Class<?> redpandaContainerClass = Class.forName("org.testcontainers.redpanda.RedpandaContainer");
+            final Constructor<?> redpandaContainerConstructor = redpandaContainerClass.getDeclaredConstructor(String.class);
+            redpandaContainer = (AutoCloseable) redpandaContainerConstructor.newInstance(REDPANDA_IMAGE);
+
+            LOGGER.info("Starting PostgreSQL and Redpanda containers");
+            final var deepStartFuture = (CompletableFuture<?>) deepStartMethod.invoke(null, List.of(postgresContainer, redpandaContainer));
+            deepStartFuture.join();
+
+            postgresJdbcUrl = (String) postgresContainerClass.getDeclaredMethod("getJdbcUrl").invoke(postgresContainer);
+            postgresUsername = (String) postgresContainerClass.getDeclaredMethod("getUsername").invoke(postgresContainer);
+            postgresPassword = (String) postgresContainerClass.getDeclaredMethod("getPassword").invoke(postgresContainer);
+            redpandaBootstrapServers = (String) redpandaContainerClass.getDeclaredMethod("getBootstrapServers").invoke(redpandaContainer);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to launch containers", e);
+        }
+
+        LOGGER.warn("""
+                Containers are not auto-discoverable by other services yet. \
+                If interaction with other services is required, please use \
+                the Docker Compose setup in the DependencyTrack/hyades repository. \
+                Auto-discovery is worked on in https://github.com/DependencyTrack/hyades/issues/1188.\
+                """);
+
+        final var configOverrides = new Properties();
+        configOverrides.put(DATABASE_URL.getPropertyName(), postgresJdbcUrl);
+        configOverrides.put(DATABASE_USERNAME.getPropertyName(), postgresUsername);
+        configOverrides.put(DATABASE_PASSWORD.getPropertyName(), postgresPassword);
+        configOverrides.put(KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS.getPropertyName(), redpandaBootstrapServers);
+
+        try {
+            LOGGER.info("Applying config overrides: %s".formatted(configOverrides));
+            final Field propertiesField = Config.class.getDeclaredField("properties");
+            propertiesField.setAccessible(true);
+
+            final Properties properties = (Properties) propertiesField.get(Config.getInstance());
+            properties.putAll(configOverrides);
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to update configuration", e);
+        }
+
+        final var topicsToCreate = new ArrayList<>(List.of(
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NEW_EPSS.name(), 1, (short) 1).configs(Map.of(CLEANUP_POLICY_CONFIG, CLEANUP_POLICY_COMPACT)),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NEW_VULNERABILITY.name(), 1, (short) 1).configs(Map.of(CLEANUP_POLICY_CONFIG, CLEANUP_POLICY_COMPACT)),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_ANALYZER.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_BOM.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_CONFIGURATION.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_DATASOURCE_MIRRORING.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_FILE_SYSTEM.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_INTEGRATION.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_NEW_VULNERABILITY.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_NEW_VULNERABLE_DEPENDENCY.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_POLICY_VIOLATION.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_PROJECT_AUDIT_CHANGE.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_PROJECT_CREATED.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_PROJECT_VULN_ANALYSIS_COMPLETE.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_REPOSITORY.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.NOTIFICATION_VEX.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.REPO_META_ANALYSIS_COMMAND.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.REPO_META_ANALYSIS_RESULT.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.VULN_ANALYSIS_COMMAND.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.VULN_ANALYSIS_RESULT.name(), 1, (short) 1),
+                new NewTopic(KafkaTopics.VULN_ANALYSIS_RESULT_PROCESSED.name(), 1, (short) 1)
+        ));
+
+        try (final var adminClient = AdminClient.create(Map.of(BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, redpandaBootstrapServers))) {
+            LOGGER.info("Creating topics: %s".formatted(topicsToCreate));
+            adminClient.createTopics(topicsToCreate).all().get();
+        } catch (ExecutionException | InterruptedException e) {
+            throw new RuntimeException("Failed to create topics", e);
+        }
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public void contextDestroyed(final ServletContextEvent event) {
+        if (postgresContainer != null) {
+            LOGGER.info("Stopping postgres container");
+            try {
+                postgresContainer.close();
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                throw new RuntimeException("Failed to stop PostgreSQL container", e);
+            }
+        }
+        if (redpandaContainer != null) {
+            LOGGER.info("Stopping redpanda container");
+            try {
+                redpandaContainer.close();
+            } catch (Exception e) {
+                throw new RuntimeException("Failed to stop Redpanda container", e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/dependencytrack/event/kafka/processor/api/ProcessorManager.java b/src/main/java/org/dependencytrack/event/kafka/processor/api/ProcessorManager.java
index a390f7915..45fb03fba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/dependencytrack/event/kafka/processor/api/ProcessorManager.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/dependencytrack/event/kafka/processor/api/ProcessorManager.java
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ public class ProcessorManager implements AutoCloseable {
     private final Map<String, ManagedProcessor> managedProcessors = new LinkedHashMap<>();
     private final UUID instanceId;
     private final Config config;
-    private final AdminClient adminClient;
+    private AdminClient adminClient;
 
     public ProcessorManager() {
         this(UUID.randomUUID(), Config.getInstance());
@@ -99,7 +99,6 @@ public ProcessorManager() {
     public ProcessorManager(final UUID instanceId, final Config config) {
         this.instanceId = instanceId;
         this.config = config;
-        this.adminClient = createAdminClient();
     }
 
     /**
@@ -165,8 +164,8 @@ public HealthCheckResponse probeHealth() {
                     ? HealthCheckResponse.Status.UP.name()
                     : HealthCheckResponse.Status.DOWN.name());
             if (isProcessorUp
-                && parallelConsumer instanceof final ParallelEoSStreamProcessor<?, ?> concreteParallelConsumer
-                && concreteParallelConsumer.getFailureCause() != null) {
+                    && parallelConsumer instanceof final ParallelEoSStreamProcessor<?, ?> concreteParallelConsumer
+                    && concreteParallelConsumer.getFailureCause() != null) {
                 responseBuilder.withData("%s_failure_reason".formatted(processorName),
                         concreteParallelConsumer.getFailureCause().getMessage());
             }
@@ -198,7 +197,7 @@ private void ensureTopicsExist() {
         final List<String> topicNames = managedProcessors.values().stream().map(ManagedProcessor::topic).toList();
         LOGGER.info("Verifying existence of subscribed topics: %s".formatted(topicNames));
 
-        final DescribeTopicsResult topicsResult = adminClient.describeTopics(topicNames, new DescribeTopicsOptions().timeoutMs(3_000));
+        final DescribeTopicsResult topicsResult = adminClient().describeTopics(topicNames, new DescribeTopicsOptions().timeoutMs(3_000));
         final var exceptionsByTopicName = new HashMap<String, Throwable>();
         for (final Map.Entry<String, KafkaFuture<TopicDescription>> entry : topicsResult.topicNameValues().entrySet()) {
             final String topicName = entry.getKey();
@@ -225,7 +224,7 @@ private void ensureTopicsExist() {
 
     private int getTopicPartitionCount(final String topicName) {
         LOGGER.debug("Determining partition count of topic %s".formatted(topicName));
-        final DescribeTopicsResult topicsResult = adminClient.describeTopics(List.of(topicName), new DescribeTopicsOptions().timeoutMs(3_000));
+        final DescribeTopicsResult topicsResult = adminClient().describeTopics(List.of(topicName), new DescribeTopicsOptions().timeoutMs(3_000));
         final KafkaFuture<TopicDescription> topicDescriptionFuture = topicsResult.topicNameValues().get(topicName);
 
         try {
@@ -343,14 +342,19 @@ private Consumer<byte[], byte[]> createConsumer(final String processorName) {
         return consumer;
     }
 
-    private AdminClient createAdminClient() {
+    private AdminClient adminClient() {
+        if (adminClient != null) {
+            return adminClient;
+        }
+
         final var adminClientConfig = new HashMap<String, Object>();
         adminClientConfig.put(BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS_CONFIG, config.getProperty(KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS));
         adminClientConfig.put(CLIENT_ID_CONFIG, "%s-admin-client".formatted(instanceId));
         adminClientConfig.putAll(getGlobalTlsConfig());
 
         LOGGER.debug("Creating admin client with options %s".formatted(adminClientConfig));
-        return AdminClient.create(adminClientConfig);
+        adminClient = AdminClient.create(adminClientConfig);
+        return adminClient;
     }
 
     private Map<String, Object> getGlobalTlsConfig() {
diff --git a/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml b/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
index 9ffe68339..392ed5cb7 100644
--- a/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
+++ b/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/web.xml
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee http://xmlns.jcp.org/xml/ns/javaee/web-app_3_1.xsd"
          version="3.1">
-    
+    <listener>
+        <listener-class>org.dependencytrack.dev.DevServicesInitializer</listener-class>
+    </listener>
     <listener>
         <listener-class>alpine.server.metrics.MetricsInitializer</listener-class>
     </listener>