diff --git a/e2e-tests/archive-lifecycle.test.ts b/e2e-tests/archive-lifecycle.test.ts
index 0072cb323..9ee1424a3 100644
--- a/e2e-tests/archive-lifecycle.test.ts
+++ b/e2e-tests/archive-lifecycle.test.ts
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
  *   - AWS credentials
  *   - npm, git, uv installed
  */
+import { NOT_FOUND_STATUS, TERMINAL_STATUSES } from '../src/cli/operations/jobs/index.js';
 import { parseJsonOutput, retry } from '../src/test-utils/index.js';
 import {
   baseCanRun,
@@ -23,9 +24,12 @@ import { existsSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { mkdir, rm } from 'node:fs/promises';
 import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { join } from 'node:path';
+import { setTimeout as delay } from 'node:timers/promises';
 import { afterAll, beforeAll, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 
 const canRun = baseCanRun && hasAws;
+const jobWaitTimeoutMs = 300000;
+const jobPollIntervalMs = 10000;
 
 describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
   let testDir: string;
@@ -35,6 +39,9 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
   // IDs captured from run steps and used in archive steps
   let batchEvaluationId: string;
   let recommendationId: string;
+  let batchEvaluationArchivable = false;
+  let batchEvaluationArchived = false;
+  let recommendationArchived = false;
 
   beforeAll(async () => {
     if (!canRun) return;
@@ -75,6 +82,37 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
 
   const run = (args: string[]) => runAgentCoreCLI(args, projectPath);
 
+  const waitForJob = async (type: 'batch-evaluation' | 'recommendation', id: string) => {
+    const deadline = Date.now() + jobWaitTimeoutMs;
+    let lastStatus = 'unknown';
+    let lastError: string | undefined;
+    let resultsFetched: boolean | undefined;
+
+    while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+      const result = await run(['view', type, id, '--json']);
+      if (result.exitCode !== 0) {
+        throw new Error(`view ${type} ${id} failed: ${result.stderr}\n${result.stdout}`);
+      }
+
+      const json = parseJsonOutput(result.stdout) as Record<string, unknown>;
+      lastStatus = typeof json.status === 'string' ? json.status : 'unknown';
+      lastError = typeof json.error === 'string' ? json.error : undefined;
+      resultsFetched = typeof json.resultsFetched === 'boolean' ? json.resultsFetched : undefined;
+      if (lastError) {
+        throw new Error(`${type} ${id} refresh failed: ${lastError} (status: ${lastStatus})`);
+      }
+      if (TERMINAL_STATUSES[type].has(lastStatus)) {
+        return lastStatus;
+      }
+
+      await delay(Math.min(jobPollIntervalMs, Math.max(0, deadline - Date.now())));
+    }
+
+    throw new Error(
+      `${type} ${id} did not finish within ${jobWaitTimeoutMs}ms; last status: ${lastStatus}, resultsFetched: ${resultsFetched ?? 'unknown'}, error: ${lastError ?? 'none'}`
+    );
+  };
+
   // ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
   // Setup — deploy and generate traces
   // ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
@@ -129,7 +167,6 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
             'Builtin.Faithfulness',
             '--lookback-days',
             '1',
-            '--wait',
             '--json',
           ]);
           expect(result.exitCode, `batch-evaluation failed (stdout: ${result.stdout}, stderr: ${result.stderr})`).toBe(
@@ -138,20 +175,23 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
           const json = parseJsonOutput(result.stdout) as Record<string, unknown>;
           expect(json).toHaveProperty('success', true);
           expect(json.id).toBeTruthy();
-          expect(['COMPLETED', 'COMPLETED_WITH_ERRORS', 'STOPPED']).toContain(json.status);
           batchEvaluationId = json.id as string;
         },
         6,
         15000
       );
+
+      const status = await waitForJob('batch-evaluation', batchEvaluationId);
+      batchEvaluationArchivable = status !== NOT_FOUND_STATUS;
+      expect(['COMPLETED', 'COMPLETED_WITH_ERRORS', 'STOPPED']).toContain(status);
     },
     600000
   );
 
   it.skipIf(!canRun)(
     'local .cli/batch-eval-results contains the run record',
-    () => {
-      expect(batchEvaluationId, 'batchEvaluationId should have been captured').toBeTruthy();
+    ctx => {
+      if (!batchEvaluationId) ctx.skip();
       const filePath = join(
         projectPath,
         'agentcore',
@@ -225,8 +265,8 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
 
   it.skipIf(!canRun)(
     'archives the batch evaluation with --json flag',
-    async () => {
-      expect(batchEvaluationId, 'batchEvaluationId must have been captured').toBeTruthy();
+    async ctx => {
+      if (!batchEvaluationArchivable) ctx.skip();
 
       const result = await run(['archive', 'batch-evaluation', '--id', batchEvaluationId, '--json']);
       expect(result.exitCode, `archive batch-evaluation failed: ${result.stderr}\n${result.stdout}`).toBe(0);
@@ -234,13 +274,15 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
       const json = parseJsonOutput(result.stdout) as Record<string, unknown>;
       expect(json).toHaveProperty('success', true);
       expect(json.id).toBe(batchEvaluationId);
+      batchEvaluationArchived = true;
     },
     120000
   );
 
   it.skipIf(!canRun)(
     'local .cli/batch-eval-results no longer contains the archived record',
-    () => {
+    ctx => {
+      if (!batchEvaluationArchived) ctx.skip();
       const filePath = join(
         projectPath,
         'agentcore',
@@ -256,7 +298,8 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
 
   it.skipIf(!canRun)(
     'evals history does not surface the archived batch evaluation ID',
-    async () => {
+    async ctx => {
+      if (!batchEvaluationArchived) ctx.skip();
       // evals history lists on-demand (run eval) records — batch evals are stored separately.
       // Verify: the command succeeds and contains no entry matching our batch evaluation ID.
       const result = await run(['evals', 'history', '--json']);
@@ -270,7 +313,8 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
 
   it.skipIf(!canRun)(
     'archiving the same batch evaluation again returns success false (already deleted)',
-    async () => {
+    async ctx => {
+      if (!batchEvaluationArchived) ctx.skip();
       const result = await run(['archive', 'batch-evaluation', '--id', batchEvaluationId, '--json']);
       // Service should return an error (resource not found / already deleted)
       expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
@@ -296,8 +340,10 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
 
   it.skipIf(!canRun)(
     'archives the recommendation with --json flag',
-    async () => {
-      expect(recommendationId, 'recommendationId must have been captured').toBeTruthy();
+    async ctx => {
+      if (!recommendationId) ctx.skip();
+      const status = await waitForJob('recommendation', recommendationId);
+      expect(['COMPLETED', 'FAILED']).toContain(status);
 
       const result = await run(['archive', 'recommendation', '--id', recommendationId, '--json']);
       expect(result.exitCode, `archive recommendation failed: ${result.stderr}\n${result.stdout}`).toBe(0);
@@ -305,13 +351,15 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
       const json = parseJsonOutput(result.stdout) as Record<string, unknown>;
       expect(json).toHaveProperty('success', true);
       expect(json.id).toBe(recommendationId);
+      recommendationArchived = true;
     },
-    120000
+    600000
   );
 
   it.skipIf(!canRun)(
     'local .cli/recommendations no longer contains the archived record',
-    () => {
+    ctx => {
+      if (!recommendationArchived) ctx.skip();
       const filePath = join(projectPath, 'agentcore', '.cli', 'jobs', 'recommendations', `${recommendationId}.json`);
       expect(existsSync(filePath), `Local record should have been deleted from ${filePath}`).toBe(false);
     },
@@ -320,7 +368,8 @@ describe.sequential('e2e: archive command lifecycle', () => {
 
   it.skipIf(!canRun)(
     'archiving the same recommendation again returns success false (already deleted)',
-    async () => {
+    async ctx => {
+      if (!recommendationArchived) ctx.skip();
       const result = await run(['archive', 'recommendation', '--id', recommendationId, '--json']);
       expect(result.exitCode).toBe(1);
       const json = parseJsonOutput(result.stdout) as Record<string, unknown>;