diff --git a/.github/workflows/docs.yaml b/.github/workflows/docs.yaml
index 475e1aa3d..9462c13b4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/docs.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/docs.yaml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           # this fetches all branches. Needed because we need gh-pages branch for deploy to work
           fetch-depth: 0
-      - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1.160.0
+      - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
         with:
           ruby-version: '3.2'
 
diff --git a/apis/bases/dataplane.openstack.org_openstackdataplaneservices.yaml b/apis/bases/dataplane.openstack.org_openstackdataplaneservices.yaml
index 79c24c635..d61c82967 100644
--- a/apis/bases/dataplane.openstack.org_openstackdataplaneservices.yaml
+++ b/apis/bases/dataplane.openstack.org_openstackdataplaneservices.yaml
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ spec:
                 type: string
               playbookContents:
                 type: string
+              role:
+                type: string
               tlsCerts:
                 additionalProperties:
                   properties:
diff --git a/apis/dataplane/v1beta1/openstackdataplaneservice_types.go b/apis/dataplane/v1beta1/openstackdataplaneservice_types.go
index 475446b37..8c90a9776 100644
--- a/apis/dataplane/v1beta1/openstackdataplaneservice_types.go
+++ b/apis/dataplane/v1beta1/openstackdataplaneservice_types.go
@@ -72,6 +72,9 @@ type OpenStackDataPlaneServiceSpec struct {
 	// Playbook is a path to the playbook that ansible will run on this execution
 	Playbook string `json:"playbook,omitempty"`
 
+	// Role is a path to the role that ansible will run on this execution
+	Role string `json:"role,omitempty"`
+
 	// CACerts - Secret containing the CA certificate chain
 	// +kubebuilder:validation:Optional
 	// +kubebuilder:validation:MaxLength:=253
diff --git a/apis/dataplane/v1beta1/openstackdataplaneservice_webhook.go b/apis/dataplane/v1beta1/openstackdataplaneservice_webhook.go
index 7088a12c3..5aa41daad 100644
--- a/apis/dataplane/v1beta1/openstackdataplaneservice_webhook.go
+++ b/apis/dataplane/v1beta1/openstackdataplaneservice_webhook.go
@@ -78,12 +78,31 @@ func (r *OpenStackDataPlaneService) ValidateCreate() (admission.Warnings, error)
 	return nil, nil
 }
 
-func (r *OpenStackDataPlaneServiceSpec) ValidateCreate() field.ErrorList {
-	// TODO(user): fill in your validation logic upon object creation.
+func (r *OpenStackDataPlaneServiceSpec) ValidateArtifact() field.ErrorList {
+	if len(r.Playbook) == len(r.PlaybookContents) && len(r.Playbook) == len(r.Role) && len(r.Playbook) == 0 {
+		return field.ErrorList{
+			field.Invalid(
+				field.NewPath("Playbook"),
+				r.Playbook, "Playbook, PlaybookContents and Role cannot be empty at the same time",
+			),
+			field.Invalid(
+				field.NewPath("PlaybookContents"),
+				r.Playbook, "Playbook, PlaybookContents and Role cannot be empty at the same time",
+			),
+			field.Invalid(
+				field.NewPath("Role"),
+				r.Playbook, "Playbook, PlaybookContents and Role cannot be empty at the same time",
+			),
+		}
+	}
 
 	return field.ErrorList{}
 }
 
+func (r *OpenStackDataPlaneServiceSpec) ValidateCreate() field.ErrorList {
+	return r.ValidateArtifact()
+}
+
 func (r *OpenStackDataPlaneService) ValidateUpdate(original runtime.Object) (admission.Warnings, error) {
 	openstackdataplaneservicelog.Info("validate update", "name", r.Name)
 	errors := r.Spec.ValidateUpdate()
@@ -100,9 +119,7 @@ func (r *OpenStackDataPlaneService) ValidateUpdate(original runtime.Object) (adm
 }
 
 func (r *OpenStackDataPlaneServiceSpec) ValidateUpdate() field.ErrorList {
-	// TODO(user): fill in your validation logic upon object creation.
-
-	return field.ErrorList{}
+	return r.ValidateArtifact()
 }
 
 func (r *OpenStackDataPlaneService) ValidateDelete() (admission.Warnings, error) {
diff --git a/config/crd/bases/dataplane.openstack.org_openstackdataplaneservices.yaml b/config/crd/bases/dataplane.openstack.org_openstackdataplaneservices.yaml
index 79c24c635..d61c82967 100644
--- a/config/crd/bases/dataplane.openstack.org_openstackdataplaneservices.yaml
+++ b/config/crd/bases/dataplane.openstack.org_openstackdataplaneservices.yaml
@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ spec:
                 type: string
               playbookContents:
                 type: string
+              role:
+                type: string
               tlsCerts:
                 additionalProperties:
                   properties:
diff --git a/pkg/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go b/pkg/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
index e86b6d6d7..fb79174c8 100644
--- a/pkg/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
+++ b/pkg/dataplane/util/ansible_execution.go
@@ -218,6 +218,9 @@ func (a *EEJob) BuildAeeJobSpec(
 	if len(service.Spec.Playbook) > 0 {
 		a.Playbook = service.Spec.Playbook
 	}
+	if len(service.Spec.Role) > 0 {
+		a.Role = service.Spec.Role
+	}
 
 	a.BackoffLimit = deployment.Spec.BackoffLimit
 	a.PreserveJobs = deployment.Spec.PreserveJobs
diff --git a/pkg/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go b/pkg/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
index 0dff7b072..b0928c74c 100644
--- a/pkg/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
+++ b/pkg/dataplane/util/ansibleee.go
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ type EEJob struct {
 	PlaybookContents string `json:"playbookContents,omitempty"`
 	// Playbook is the playbook that ansible will run on this execution, accepts path or FQN from collection
 	Playbook string `json:"playbook,omitempty"`
+	// Role is the role that ansible will run on this execution, accepts path or FQN from collection
+	Role string `json:"role,omitempty"`
 	// Image is the container image that will execute the ansible command
 	Image string `json:"image,omitempty"`
 	// Name is the name of the execution job
@@ -78,12 +80,20 @@ func (a *EEJob) JobForOpenStackAnsibleEE(h *helper.Helper) (*batchv1.Job, error)
 
 	args := a.Args
 
-	playbook := a.Playbook
 	if len(args) == 0 {
-		if len(playbook) == 0 {
-			playbook = CustomPlaybook
+		artifact := a.Playbook
+		param := "-p"
+		if len(artifact) == 0 {
+			if len(a.PlaybookContents) > 0 {
+				artifact = CustomPlaybook
+			} else if len(a.Role) > 0 {
+				artifact = a.Role
+				param = "-r"
+			} else {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("no playbook, playbookContents or role specified")
+			}
 		}
-		args = []string{"ansible-runner", "run", "/runner", "-p", playbook}
+		args = []string{"ansible-runner", "run", "/runner", param, artifact}
 	}
 
 	// ansible runner identifier
@@ -169,12 +179,15 @@ func (a *EEJob) JobForOpenStackAnsibleEE(h *helper.Helper) (*batchv1.Job, error)
 		}
 	}
 
+	if len(a.Role) > 0 {
+		setRunnerEnvVar(h, "RUNNER_ROLE", a.Role, "role", job, hashes)
+	}
 	if len(a.PlaybookContents) > 0 {
 		setRunnerEnvVar(h, "RUNNER_PLAYBOOK", a.PlaybookContents, "playbookContents", job, hashes)
-	} else if len(playbook) > 0 {
+	} else if len(a.Playbook) > 0 {
 		// As we set "playbook.yaml" as default
 		// we need to ensure that PlaybookContents is empty before adding playbook
-		setRunnerEnvVar(h, "RUNNER_PLAYBOOK", playbook, "playbooks", job, hashes)
+		setRunnerEnvVar(h, "RUNNER_PLAYBOOK", a.Playbook, "playbooks", job, hashes)
 	}
 
 	if len(a.CmdLine) > 0 {
diff --git a/tests/functional/dataplane/base_test.go b/tests/functional/dataplane/base_test.go
index 3f6f098c0..43ad7b6f2 100644
--- a/tests/functional/dataplane/base_test.go
+++ b/tests/functional/dataplane/base_test.go
@@ -105,6 +105,9 @@ func CreateDataplaneServicesWithSameServiceType(name types.NamespacedName) {
 
 // Create an OpenStackDataPlaneService with a given NamespacedName, and a given unstructured spec
 func CreateDataPlaneServiceFromSpec(name types.NamespacedName, spec map[string]interface{}) *unstructured.Unstructured {
+	if spec["playbook"] == nil && spec["playbookContents"] == nil && spec["role"] == nil {
+		spec["playbook"] = "test"
+	}
 	raw := map[string]interface{}{
 
 		"apiVersion": "dataplane.openstack.org/v1beta1",
@@ -514,6 +517,9 @@ func DefaultDataplaneService(name types.NamespacedName) map[string]interface{} {
 		"metadata": map[string]interface{}{
 			"name":      name.Name,
 			"namespace": name.Namespace,
+		},
+		"spec": map[string]interface{}{
+			"playbook": "test",
 		}}
 }
 
@@ -531,6 +537,7 @@ func DefaultDataplaneGlobalService(name types.NamespacedName) map[string]interfa
 		},
 		"spec": map[string]interface{}{
 			"deployOnAllNodeSets": true,
+			"playbook":            "test",
 		},
 	}
 }
diff --git a/tests/functional/dataplane/openstackdataplaneservice_controller_test.go b/tests/functional/dataplane/openstackdataplaneservice_controller_test.go
index 1a622486e..38eba2223 100644
--- a/tests/functional/dataplane/openstackdataplaneservice_controller_test.go
+++ b/tests/functional/dataplane/openstackdataplaneservice_controller_test.go
@@ -42,7 +42,8 @@ var _ = Describe("OpenstackDataplaneService Test", func() {
 		It("spec fields are set up", func() {
 			service := GetService(dataplaneServiceName)
 			Expect(service.Spec.DataSources).To(BeEmpty())
-			Expect(service.Spec.Playbook).To(BeEmpty())
+			Expect(service.Spec.PlaybookContents).To(BeEmpty())
+			Expect(service.Spec.Role).To(BeEmpty())
 			Expect(service.Spec.DeployOnAllNodeSets).To(BeFalse())
 		})
 	})
@@ -57,7 +58,8 @@ var _ = Describe("OpenstackDataplaneService Test", func() {
 		It("spec fields are set up", func() {
 			service := GetService(dataplaneServiceName)
 			Expect(service.Spec.DataSources).To(BeEmpty())
-			Expect(service.Spec.Playbook).To(BeEmpty())
+			Expect(service.Spec.PlaybookContents).To(BeEmpty())
+			Expect(service.Spec.Role).To(BeEmpty())
 			Expect(service.Spec.DeployOnAllNodeSets).To(BeTrue())
 		})
 	})
diff --git a/tests/kuttl/tests/dataplane-service-custom-image/00-assert.yaml b/tests/kuttl/tests/dataplane-service-custom-image/00-assert.yaml
index ebce91149..7c620a3b6 100644
--- a/tests/kuttl/tests/dataplane-service-custom-image/00-assert.yaml
+++ b/tests/kuttl/tests/dataplane-service-custom-image/00-assert.yaml
@@ -95,15 +95,15 @@ spec:
         - ansible-runner
         - run
         - /runner
-        - -p
-        - playbook.yaml
+        - -r
+        - test role
         - -i
         - custom-img-svc-edpm-compute-no-nodes-edpm-no-nodes-custom-svc
         env:
-        - name: RUNNER_PLAYBOOK
+        - name: RUNNER_ROLE
           value: |2+
 
-            playbook.yaml
+            test role
 
         - name: RUNNER_EXTRA_VARS
           value: |2+
diff --git a/tests/kuttl/tests/dataplane-service-custom-image/00-dataplane-create.yaml b/tests/kuttl/tests/dataplane-service-custom-image/00-dataplane-create.yaml
index 358f0c4c9..6b5630fc1 100644
--- a/tests/kuttl/tests/dataplane-service-custom-image/00-dataplane-create.yaml
+++ b/tests/kuttl/tests/dataplane-service-custom-image/00-dataplane-create.yaml
@@ -4,14 +4,7 @@ metadata:
   name: custom-img-svc
 spec:
   openStackAnsibleEERunnerImage: example.com/repo/runner-image:latest
-  role:
-    name: "test role"
-    hosts: "all"
-    strategy: "linear"
-    tasks:
-      - name: "test task"
-        import_role:
-          name: "test role"
+  role: "test role"
 ---
 apiVersion: dataplane.openstack.org/v1beta1
 kind: OpenStackDataPlaneNodeSet