diff --git a/distribution/tools/server-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/server/cli/SystemJvmOptions.java b/distribution/tools/server-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/server/cli/SystemJvmOptions.java
index 9c39d5c9c2aff..9e6cec939f0eb 100644
--- a/distribution/tools/server-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/server/cli/SystemJvmOptions.java
+++ b/distribution/tools/server-cli/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/server/cli/SystemJvmOptions.java
@@ -66,6 +66,8 @@ static List<String> systemJvmOptions(Settings nodeSettings, final Map<String, St
                 "-Dlog4j2.disable.jmx=true",
                 "-Dlog4j2.formatMsgNoLookups=true",
                 "-Djava.locale.providers=CLDR",
+                // Enable vectorization for whatever version we are running. This ensures we use vectorization even when running EA builds.
+                "-Dorg.apache.lucene.vectorization.upperJavaFeatureVersion=" + Runtime.version().feature(),
                 // Pass through distribution type
                 "-Des.distribution.type=" + distroType
             ),