diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 1ee8e87fc..b5c35f510 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -89,6 +89,7 @@ CACHE_ARGS=()
 PYTHON_ARGS_FOR_INSTALL=("-m" "pip" "install" "--no-build-isolation" "--no-deps")
 LOGGING_ACTIVE_LEVEL="INFO"
 FETCH_RAPIDS=ON
+PARALLEL_LEVEL=${PARALLEL_LEVEL:=$(nproc)}
 
 # Set defaults for vars that may not have been defined externally
 #  FIXME: if PREFIX is not set, check CONDA_PREFIX, but there is no fallback
@@ -379,14 +380,17 @@ if buildAll || hasArg libcuopt; then
           -DSKIP_ROUTING_BUILD=${SKIP_ROUTING_BUILD} \
           -DWRITE_FATBIN=${WRITE_FATBIN} \
           -DHOST_LINEINFO=${HOST_LINEINFO} \
+          -DPARALLEL_LEVEL="${PARALLEL_LEVEL}" \
           -DINSTALL_TARGET="${INSTALL_TARGET}" \
           "${CACHE_ARGS[@]}" \
           "${EXTRA_CMAKE_ARGS[@]}" \
           "${REPODIR}"/cpp
+    JFLAG="${PARALLEL_LEVEL:+-j${PARALLEL_LEVEL}}"
     if hasArg -n; then
-        cmake --build "${LIBCUOPT_BUILD_DIR}" ${VERBOSE_FLAG}
+        # Manual make invocation to start its jobserver
+        make ${JFLAG} -C "${REPODIR}/cpp" LIBCUOPT_BUILD_DIR="${LIBCUOPT_BUILD_DIR}" VERBOSE_FLAG="${VERBOSE_FLAG}" PARALLEL_LEVEL="${PARALLEL_LEVEL}" ninja-build
     else
-        cmake --build "${LIBCUOPT_BUILD_DIR}" --target ${INSTALL_TARGET} ${VERBOSE_FLAG} -j"${PARALLEL_LEVEL}"
+        cmake --build "${LIBCUOPT_BUILD_DIR}" --target ${INSTALL_TARGET} ${VERBOSE_FLAG} ${JFLAG}
     fi
 fi
 
diff --git a/conda/recipes/libcuopt/recipe.yaml b/conda/recipes/libcuopt/recipe.yaml
index 8e56c6934..b4cccd714 100644
--- a/conda/recipes/libcuopt/recipe.yaml
+++ b/conda/recipes/libcuopt/recipe.yaml
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ cache:
       - ${{ stdlib("c") }}
       - cuda-version =${{ cuda_version }}
       - cmake ${{ cmake_version }}
+      - make
       - ninja
       - tbb-devel
       - zlib
diff --git a/cpp/CMakeLists.txt b/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
index fac00c66a..f3c59ba4e 100644
--- a/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cpp/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -150,6 +150,15 @@ if(CMAKE_CUDA_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL 12.9 AND CMAKE_CUDA_COMPILE
 endif()
 list(APPEND CUOPT_CUDA_FLAGS -fopenmp)
 
+# Add jobserver flags for parallel compilation if PARALLEL_LEVEL is set
+if(PARALLEL_LEVEL AND NOT "${PARALLEL_LEVEL}" STREQUAL "")
+  message(STATUS "Enabling nvcc parallel compilation support")
+  list(APPEND CUOPT_CUDA_FLAGS --threads=0 --split-compile=0)
+  if(CMAKE_CUDA_COMPILER_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL 13.0)
+    message(STATUS "Enabling nvcc jobserver support (NVCC >= 13.0)")
+    list(APPEND CUOPT_CUDA_FLAGS --jobserver)
+  endif()
+endif()
 
 if(NOT DISABLE_OPENMP)
   find_package(OpenMP)
diff --git a/cpp/Makefile b/cpp/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d451e9bed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cpp/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026, NVIDIA CORPORATION. All rights reserved.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+# Makefile
+
+LIBCUOPT_BUILD_DIR ?= cpp/build
+VERBOSE_FLAG ?=
+PARALLEL_LEVEL ?=
+
+.PHONY: all ninja-build
+
+all: ninja-build
+
+ninja-build:
+	cmake --build $(LIBCUOPT_BUILD_DIR) $(VERBOSE_FLAG) $(if $(PARALLEL_LEVEL),-j$(PARALLEL_LEVEL),)