diff --git a/.evergreen-functions.yml b/.evergreen-functions.yml
index 98a898321..7d54521db 100644
--- a/.evergreen-functions.yml
+++ b/.evergreen-functions.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ variables:
       - PKCS11_URI
       - branch_name
       - build_id
+      - build_tag_type
       - build_variant
       - distro
       - e2e_cloud_qa_apikey_owner_ubi_cloudqa
@@ -29,7 +30,6 @@ variables:
       - otel_collector_endpoint
       - otel_parent_id
       - otel_trace_id
-      - pin_tag_at
       - registry
       - requester
       - skip_tags
diff --git a/.evergreen-periodic-builds.yaml b/.evergreen-periodic-builds.yaml
index 1c50a283b..9fa46be77 100644
--- a/.evergreen-periodic-builds.yaml
+++ b/.evergreen-periodic-builds.yaml
@@ -3,9 +3,9 @@ include:
   - filename: .evergreen-tasks.yml
 
 parameters:
-  - key: pin_tag_at
-    value: 00:00
-    description: Pin tags at this time of the day. Midnight by default.
+  - key: build_tag_type
+    value: periodic
+    description: The build type, this is added to the image tag. Used for periodic and release builds.
 
 variables:
   - &setup_group
diff --git a/.evergreen.yml b/.evergreen.yml
index 78e2fbf80..a141e401a 100644
--- a/.evergreen.yml
+++ b/.evergreen.yml
@@ -180,9 +180,9 @@ parameters:
     value: "true"
     description: set this to false to suppress retries on failure
 
-  - key: pin_tag_at
-    value: 10:00
-    description: Pin tags at this time of the day. Midnight by default for periodic and 10 for releases.
+  - key: build_tag_type
+    value: release
+    description: The build type, this is added to the image tag. Used for periodic and release builds.
 
   - key: OVERRIDE_VERSION_ID
     value: ""
diff --git a/pipeline.py b/pipeline.py
index e9603c37a..be31748fa 100755
--- a/pipeline.py
+++ b/pipeline.py
@@ -200,62 +200,31 @@ class MissingEnvironmentVariable(Exception):
     pass
 
 
-def should_pin_at() -> Optional[Tuple[str, str]]:
-    """Gets the value of the pin_tag_at to tag the images with.
-
-    Returns its value split on :.
-    """
-    # We need to return something so `partition` does not raise
-    # AttributeError
-    is_patch = is_running_in_patch()
-
-    try:
-        pinned = os.environ["pin_tag_at"]
-    except KeyError:
-        raise MissingEnvironmentVariable(f"pin_tag_at environment variable does not exist, but is required")
-    if is_patch:
-        if pinned == "00:00":
-            raise Exception("Pinning to midnight during a patch is not supported. Please pin to another date!")
-
-    hour, _, minute = pinned.partition(":")
-    return hour, minute
-
-
 def is_running_in_patch():
     is_patch = os.environ.get("is_patch")
     return is_patch is not None and is_patch.lower() == "true"
 
 
 def build_id() -> str:
-    """Returns the current UTC time in ISO8601 date format.
-
-    If running in Evergreen and `created_at` expansion is defined, use the
-    datetime defined in that variable instead.
-
-    It is possible to pin this time at midnight (00:00) for periodic builds. If
-    running a manual build, then the Evergreen `pin_tag_at` variable needs to be
-    set to the empty string, in which case, the image tag suffix will correspond
-    to the current timestamp.
-
+    """Returns the build id used for the image tag.
+    The build id is configurable `build_tag_type` and `version_id` in evergreen.
     """
 
-    date = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+    build_tag_type = ""
     try:
-        created_at = os.environ["created_at"]
-        date = datetime.strptime(created_at, "%y_%m_%d_%H_%M_%S")
+        build_tag_type = os.environ["build_tag_type"]
     except KeyError:
         pass
 
-    hour, minute = should_pin_at()
-    if hour and minute:
-        logger.info(f"we are pinning to, hour: {hour}, minute: {minute}")
-        date = date.replace(hour=int(hour), minute=int(minute), second=0)
-    else:
-        logger.warning(f"hour and minute cannot be extracted from provided pin_tag_at env, pinning to now")
-
-    string_time = date.strftime("%Y%m%dT%H%M%SZ")
+    try:
+        version_id = os.environ["version_id"]
+    except KeyError:
+        raise MissingEnvironmentVariable("Missing environment variable `version_id`")
 
-    return string_time
+    if build_tag_type == "":
+        return version_id
+    else:
+        return f"{version_id}-{build_tag_type}"
 
 
 def get_release() -> Dict:
@@ -744,7 +713,8 @@ def should_skip_arm64():
     """
     return is_running_in_evg_pipeline() and is_running_in_patch()
 
-
+# build_image_daily is always called, it is not only used for daily builds. build_image_generic calls
+# build_image_daily for the release and PR builds too.
 def build_image_daily(
     image_name: str,  # corresponds to the image_name in the release.json
     min_version: str = None,
@@ -805,6 +775,7 @@ def inner(build_configuration: BuildConfiguration):
 
         args = args_for_daily_image(image_name)
         args["build_id"] = build_id()
+        # TODO: add span for build_id
 
         completed_versions = set()
 
diff --git a/pipeline_test.py b/pipeline_test.py
index 671ad105e..53cf9a540 100644
--- a/pipeline_test.py
+++ b/pipeline_test.py
@@ -324,3 +324,19 @@ def test_create_and_push_manifest_push_error(mock_run):
 
     assert "Error pushing manifest" in str(exc_info.value)
     assert mock_run.call_count == 2  # Both create and push calls
+
+
+def test_build_id():
+    from pipeline import build_id
+
+    os.environ["version_id"] = "abcdefg"
+    os.environ["build_tag_type"] = "release"
+    id = build_id()
+
+    assert id == "abcdefg-release"
+
+    os.environ["version_id"] = "abcdefg"
+    os.environ["build_tag_type"] = ""
+    id = build_id()
+
+    assert id == "abcdefg"