diff --git a/dev-support/Jenkinsfile_GitHub b/dev-support/Jenkinsfile_GitHub
index 992e2cebf786..16e55e1e5464 100644
--- a/dev-support/Jenkinsfile_GitHub
+++ b/dev-support/Jenkinsfile_GitHub
@@ -45,7 +45,10 @@ pipeline {
         // These tests currently have known failures. Once they burn down to 0, remove from here so that new problems will cause a failure.
         TESTS_FILTER = 'cc,checkstyle,javac,javadoc,pylint,shellcheck,whitespace,perlcritic,ruby-lint,rubocop,mvnsite'
         EXCLUDE_TESTS_URL = "${JENKINS_URL}/job/HBase-Find-Flaky-Tests/job/${CHANGE_TARGET}/lastSuccessfulBuild/artifact/output/excludes"
-
+        // set build parallel
+        BUILD_THREAD = 2
+        SUREFIRE_FIRST_PART_FORK_COUNT = '0.5C'
+        SUREFIRE_SECOND_PART_FORK_COUNT = '0.5C'
         // a global view of paths. parallel stages can land on the same host concurrently, so each
         // stage works in its own subdirectory. there is an "output" under each of these
         // directories, which we retrieve after the build is complete.
diff --git a/dev-support/hbase-personality.sh b/dev-support/hbase-personality.sh
index d9b1cf1fa7b7..adb9a8beb736 100755
--- a/dev-support/hbase-personality.sh
+++ b/dev-support/hbase-personality.sh
@@ -144,7 +144,13 @@ function personality_modules
   # At a few points, hbase modules can run build, test, etc. in parallel
   # Let it happen. Means we'll use more CPU but should be for short bursts.
   # https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/MAVEN/Parallel+builds+in+Maven+3
-  extra="--threads=2 -DHBasePatchProcess"
+  if [[ -n "${BUILD_THREAD}" ]]; then
+    extra="--threads=${BUILD_THREAD}"
+  else
+    extra="--threads=2"
+  fi
+
+  extra="${extra} -DHBasePatchProcess"
   if [[ "${PATCH_BRANCH}" = branch-1* ]]; then
     extra="${extra} -Dhttps.protocols=TLSv1.2"
   fi
@@ -232,6 +238,15 @@ function personality_modules
       extra="${extra} -Dbuild.id=${BUILD_ID}"
     fi
 
+    # set forkCount
+    if [[ -n "${SUREFIRE_FIRST_PART_FORK_COUNT}" ]]; then
+      extra="${extra} -Dsurefire.firstPartForkCount=${SUREFIRE_FIRST_PART_FORK_COUNT}"
+    fi
+
+    if [[ -n "${SUREFIRE_SECOND_PART_FORK_COUNT}" ]]; then
+      extra="${extra} -Dsurefire.secondPartForkCount=${SUREFIRE_SECOND_PART_FORK_COUNT}"
+    fi
+
     # If the set of changed files includes CommonFSUtils then add the hbase-server
     # module to the set of modules (if not already included) to be tested
     for f in "${CHANGED_FILES[@]}"