diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 4ba0415f..0fc84c92 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -46,6 +46,10 @@ ifeq ($(USE_IMAGE_DIGESTS), true)
 	BUNDLE_GEN_FLAGS += --use-image-digests
 endif
 
+# Set the Operator SDK version to use. By default, what is installed on the system is used.
+# This is useful for CI or a project to utilize a specific version of the operator-sdk toolkit.
+OPERATOR_SDK_VERSION ?= v1.31.0
+
 # Image URL to use all building/pushing image targets
 DEFAULT_IMG ?= quay.io/openstack-k8s-operators/barbican-operator:latest
 IMG ?= $(DEFAULT_IMG)
@@ -214,12 +218,29 @@ envtest: $(ENVTEST) ## Download envtest-setup locally if necessary.
 $(ENVTEST): $(LOCALBIN)
 	test -s $(LOCALBIN)/setup-envtest || GOBIN=$(LOCALBIN) go install sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/tools/setup-envtest@latest
 
+.PHONY: operator-sdk
+OPERATOR_SDK ?= $(LOCALBIN)/operator-sdk
+operator-sdk: ## Download operator-sdk locally if necessary.
+ifeq (,$(wildcard $(OPERATOR_SDK)))
+ifeq (, $(shell which operator-sdk 2>/dev/null))
+	@{ \
+	set -e ;\
+	mkdir -p $(dir $(OPERATOR_SDK)) ;\
+	OS=$(shell go env GOOS) && ARCH=$(shell go env GOARCH) && \
+	curl -sSLo $(OPERATOR_SDK) https://github.com/operator-framework/operator-sdk/releases/download/$(OPERATOR_SDK_VERSION)/operator-sdk_$${OS}_$${ARCH} ;\
+	chmod +x $(OPERATOR_SDK) ;\
+	}
+else
+OPERATOR_SDK = $(shell which operator-sdk)
+endif
+endif
+
 .PHONY: bundle
-bundle: manifests kustomize ## Generate bundle manifests and metadata, then validate generated files.
-	operator-sdk generate kustomize manifests -q
+bundle: manifests kustomize operator-sdk ## Generate bundle manifests and metadata, then validate generated files.
+	$(OPERATOR_SDK) generate kustomize manifests -q
 	cd config/manager && $(KUSTOMIZE) edit set image controller=$(IMG)
-	$(KUSTOMIZE) build config/manifests | operator-sdk generate bundle $(BUNDLE_GEN_FLAGS)
-	operator-sdk bundle validate ./bundle
+	$(KUSTOMIZE) build config/manifests | $(OPERATOR_SDK) generate bundle $(BUNDLE_GEN_FLAGS)
+	$(OPERATOR_SDK) bundle validate ./bundle
 
 .PHONY: bundle-build
 bundle-build: ## Build the bundle image.