diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-kafka.yml b/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-kafka.yml
index eb2530dc210..9877511a236 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-kafka.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci-e2e-kafka.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@ permissions:  # added using https://github.com/step-security/secure-workflows
 jobs:
   kafka:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        jaeger-version: [v1, v2]  # Adjust if there are specific versions of Jaeger
+    name: Kafka Integration Tests ${{ matrix.jaeger-version }}
     steps:
     - name: Harden Runner
       uses: step-security/harden-runner@17d0e2bd7d51742c71671bd19fa12bdc9d40a3d6 # v2.8.1
@@ -30,9 +34,9 @@ jobs:
       with:
         go-version: 1.22.x
 
-    - name: Run kafka integration tests
+    - name: Run Kafka integration tests
       id: test-execution
-      run: bash scripts/kafka-integration-test.sh -k
+      run: bash scripts/kafka-integration-test.sh -j ${{ matrix.jaeger-version }}
 
     - name: Output Kafka logs on failure
       run: docker compose -f ${{ steps.test-execution.outputs.docker_compose_file }} logs
@@ -42,4 +46,4 @@ jobs:
       uses: ./.github/actions/upload-codecov
       with:
         files: cover.out
-        flags: kafka
+        flags: kafka-${{ matrix.jaeger-version }}
diff --git a/cmd/jaeger/collector-with-kafka.yaml b/cmd/jaeger/collector-with-kafka.yaml
index fb16234bc8c..a248357b978 100644
--- a/cmd/jaeger/collector-with-kafka.yaml
+++ b/cmd/jaeger/collector-with-kafka.yaml
@@ -4,7 +4,12 @@ service:
       receivers: [otlp, jaeger]
       processors: [batch]
       exporters: [kafka]
-      
+  telemetry:
+    resource:
+      service.name: jaeger_collector
+    metrics:
+      level: detailed
+
 receivers:
   otlp:
     protocols:
diff --git a/cmd/jaeger/internal/integration/e2e_integration.go b/cmd/jaeger/internal/integration/e2e_integration.go
index 4bf341a2a8f..ea7459c268f 100644
--- a/cmd/jaeger/internal/integration/e2e_integration.go
+++ b/cmd/jaeger/internal/integration/e2e_integration.go
@@ -37,9 +37,11 @@ const otlpPort = 4317
 //   - At last, clean up anything declared in its own test functions.
 //     (e.g. close remote-storage)
 type E2EStorageIntegration struct {
-	SkipStorageCleaner bool
 	integration.StorageIntegration
-	ConfigFile string
+
+	SkipStorageCleaner  bool
+	ConfigFile          string
+	HealthCheckEndpoint string
 }
 
 // e2eInitialize starts the Jaeger-v2 collector with the provided config file,
@@ -51,6 +53,11 @@ func (s *E2EStorageIntegration) e2eInitialize(t *testing.T, storage string) {
 	if !s.SkipStorageCleaner {
 		configFile = createStorageCleanerConfig(t, s.ConfigFile, storage)
 	}
+
+	configFile, err := filepath.Abs(configFile)
+	require.NoError(t, err, "Failed to get absolute path of the config file")
+	require.FileExists(t, configFile, "Config file does not exist at the resolved path")
+
 	t.Logf("Starting Jaeger-v2 in the background with config file %s", configFile)
 
 	outFile, err := os.OpenFile(
@@ -79,22 +86,31 @@ func (s *E2EStorageIntegration) e2eInitialize(t *testing.T, storage string) {
 		Stdout: outFile,
 		Stderr: errFile,
 	}
+	t.Logf("Running command: %v", cmd.Args)
 	require.NoError(t, cmd.Start())
+
+	// Wait for the binary to start and become ready to serve requests.
+	healthCheckEndpoint := s.HealthCheckEndpoint
+	if healthCheckEndpoint == "" {
+		healthCheckEndpoint = fmt.Sprintf("http://localhost:%d/", ports.QueryHTTP)
+	}
 	require.Eventually(t, func() bool {
-		url := fmt.Sprintf("http://localhost:%d/", ports.QueryHTTP)
-		t.Logf("Checking if Jaeger-v2 is available on %s", url)
+		t.Logf("Checking if Jaeger-v2 is available on %s", healthCheckEndpoint)
 		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 3*time.Second)
 		defer cancel()
-		req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, url, nil)
-		require.NoError(t, err)
+		req, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, healthCheckEndpoint, nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Logf("HTTP request creation failed: %v", err)
+			return false
+		}
 		resp, err := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)
 		if err != nil {
-			t.Log(err)
+			t.Logf("HTTP request failed: %v", err)
 			return false
 		}
 		defer resp.Body.Close()
 		return resp.StatusCode == http.StatusOK
-	}, 30*time.Second, 500*time.Millisecond, "Jaeger-v2 did not start")
+	}, 60*time.Second, 3*time.Second, "Jaeger-v2 did not start")
 	t.Log("Jaeger-v2 is ready")
 	t.Cleanup(func() {
 		if err := cmd.Process.Kill(); err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/jaeger/internal/integration/kafka_test.go b/cmd/jaeger/internal/integration/kafka_test.go
index 099bddba3e1..b98eb3d819a 100644
--- a/cmd/jaeger/internal/integration/kafka_test.go
+++ b/cmd/jaeger/internal/integration/kafka_test.go
@@ -12,12 +12,21 @@ import (
 func TestKafkaStorage(t *testing.T) {
 	integration.SkipUnlessEnv(t, "kafka")
 
+	// TODO these config files use topic: "jaeger-spans",
+	// but for integration tests we want to use random topic in each run.
+	// https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/blob/ed5cc2981c34158d0650cb96cb2fafcb753bea70/plugin/storage/integration/kafka_test.go#L50-L51
+	// Once OTEL Collector supports default values for env vars
+	// (https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/issues/5228)
+	// we can change the config to use topic: "${KAFKA_TOPIC:-jaeger-spans}"
+	// and export a KAFKA_TOPIC var with random topic name in the tests.
+
 	collectorConfig := "../../collector-with-kafka.yaml"
 	ingesterConfig := "../../ingester-remote-storage.yaml"
 
 	collector := &E2EStorageIntegration{
-		SkipStorageCleaner: true,
-		ConfigFile:         collectorConfig,
+		SkipStorageCleaner:  true,
+		ConfigFile:          collectorConfig,
+		HealthCheckEndpoint: "http://localhost:8888/metrics",
 	}
 
 	// Initialize and start the collector
diff --git a/scripts/kafka-integration-test.sh b/scripts/kafka-integration-test.sh
old mode 100644
new mode 100755
index 654baabedd3..eed185727a7
--- a/scripts/kafka-integration-test.sh
+++ b/scripts/kafka-integration-test.sh
@@ -1,44 +1,100 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-set -e
+set -euf -o pipefail
 
-export STORAGE=kafka
 compose_file="docker-compose/kafka-integration-test/docker-compose.yml"
+echo "docker_compose_file=${compose_file}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/null}"
 
-# Check if the -k parameter is provided and start Kafka if it was
-if [ "$1" == "-k" ]; then
-    echo "Starting Kafka using Docker Compose..."
-    docker compose -f "${compose_file}" up -d kafka
-    echo "docker_compose_file=${compose_file}" >> "${GITHUB_OUTPUT:-/dev/null}"
-fi
+jaeger_version=""
+manage_kafka="true"
+
+print_help() {
+  echo "Usage: $0 [-K] -j <jaeger_version>"
+  echo "  -K: do not start or stop Kafka container (useful for local testing)"
+  echo "  -j: major version of Jaeger to test (v1|v2)"
+  exit 1
+}
+
+parse_args() {
+  while getopts "j:Kh" opt; do
+    case "${opt}" in
+    j)
+      jaeger_version=${OPTARG}
+      ;;
+    K)
+      manage_kafka="false"
+      ;;
+    *)
+      print_help
+      ;;
+    esac
+  done
+  if [ "$jaeger_version" != "v1" ] && [ "$jaeger_version" != "v2" ]; then
+    echo "Error: Invalid Jaeger version. Valid options are v1 or v2"
+    print_help
+  fi
+}
+
+setup_kafka() {
+  echo "Starting Kafka using Docker Compose..."
+  docker compose -f "${compose_file}" up -d kafka
+}
+
+teardown_kafka() {
+  echo "Stopping Kafka..."
+  docker compose -f "${compose_file}" down
+}
 
-# Check if Kafka is ready by attempting to list topics
 is_kafka_ready() {
-    docker compose -f "${compose_file}" \
-        exec kafka /opt/bitnami/kafka/bin/kafka-topics.sh \
-        --list \
-        --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
-        >/dev/null 2>&1
+  docker compose -f "${compose_file}" \
+    exec kafka /opt/bitnami/kafka/bin/kafka-topics.sh \
+    --list \
+    --bootstrap-server localhost:9092 \
+    >/dev/null 2>&1
 }
 
-# Set the timeout in seconds
-timeout=180
-# Set the interval between checks in seconds
-interval=5
-# Calculate the end time
-end_time=$((SECONDS + timeout))
+wait_for_kafka() {
+  local timeout=180
+  local interval=5
+  local end_time=$((SECONDS + timeout))
 
-while [ $SECONDS -lt $end_time ]; do
+  while [ $SECONDS -lt $end_time ]; do
     if is_kafka_ready; then
-        break
+      return
     fi
     echo "Kafka broker not ready, waiting ${interval} seconds"
     sleep $interval
-done
+  done
 
-if ! is_kafka_ready; then
-    echo "Timed out waiting for Kafka to start"
-    exit 1
-fi
+  echo "Timed out waiting for Kafka to start"
+  exit 1
+}
+
+run_integration_test() {
+  export STORAGE=kafka
+  if [ "${jaeger_version}" = "v1" ]; then
+    make storage-integration-test
+  elif [ "${jaeger_version}" = "v2" ]; then
+    make jaeger-v2-storage-integration-test
+  else
+    echo "Unknown Jaeger version ${jaeger_version}."
+    print_help
+  fi
+}
+
+main() {
+  parse_args "$@"
+
+  echo "Executing Kafka integration test for version $2"
+  set -x
+
+  if [[ "$manage_kafka" == "true" ]]; then
+    setup_kafka
+    trap 'teardown_kafka' EXIT
+  fi
+  wait_for_kafka
+
+  run_integration_test
+}
 
-make storage-integration-test
+main "$@"