diff --git a/.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml
index b9c385f34..46ecbd14e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/backend-tests.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ jobs:
     name: Unit Tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     if: github.event.pull_request.draft == false
+    env:
+      EMBEDDING_MODEL: sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout code
@@ -48,6 +50,13 @@ jobs:
           restore-keys: |
             python-deps-
 
+      - name: Cache HuggingFace models
+        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
+        uses: actions/cache@v5
+        with:
+          path: ~/.cache/huggingface
+          key: hf-models-${{ env.EMBEDDING_MODEL }}
+
       - name: Install dependencies
         if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         working-directory: surfsense_backend
@@ -62,6 +71,8 @@ jobs:
     name: Integration Tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     if: github.event.pull_request.draft == false
+    env:
+      EMBEDDING_MODEL: sentence-transformers/all-MiniLM-L6-v2
 
     services:
       postgres:
@@ -111,6 +122,13 @@ jobs:
           restore-keys: |
             python-deps-
 
+      - name: Cache HuggingFace models
+        if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
+        uses: actions/cache@v5
+        with:
+          path: ~/.cache/huggingface
+          key: hf-models-${{ env.EMBEDDING_MODEL }}
+
       - name: Install dependencies
         if: steps.backend-changes.outputs.backend == 'true'
         working-directory: surfsense_backend