diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 989658216e5f..f03f2ca7e481 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -2673,6 +2673,54 @@
       </build>
     </profile>
 
+    <!--
+     This is a profile to enable the use of the ASF snapshot and staging repositories
+     during a build. It is useful when testing againt nightly or RC releases of dependencies.
+     It MUST NOT be used when building copies of Spark to use in production of for distribution,
+     -->
+    <profile>
+      <id>snapshots-and-staging</id>
+      <properties>
+        <!-- override point for ASF staging/snapshot repos -->
+        <asf.staging>https://repository.apache.org/content/groups/staging/</asf.staging>
+        <asf.snapshots>https://repository.apache.org/content/repositories/snapshots/</asf.snapshots>
+      </properties>
+
+      <pluginRepositories>
+        <pluginRepository>
+          <id>ASF Staging</id>
+          <url>${asf.staging}</url>
+        </pluginRepository>
+        <pluginRepository>
+          <id>ASF Snapshots</id>
+          <url>${asf.snapshots}</url>
+          <snapshots>
+            <enabled>true</enabled>
+          </snapshots>
+          <releases>
+            <enabled>false</enabled>
+          </releases>
+        </pluginRepository>
+
+      </pluginRepositories>
+      <repositories>
+        <repository>
+          <id>ASF Staging</id>
+          <url>${asf.staging}</url>
+        </repository>
+        <repository>
+          <id>ASF Snapshots</id>
+          <url>${asf.snapshots}</url>
+          <snapshots>
+            <enabled>true</enabled>
+          </snapshots>
+          <releases>
+            <enabled>false</enabled>
+          </releases>
+        </repository>
+      </repositories>
+    </profile>
+
     <!--
       These empty profiles are available in some sub-modules. Declare them here so that
       maven does not complain when they're provided on the command line for a sub-module