diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/release-lib.nix b/pkgs/top-level/release-lib.nix
index f6db077b3136..711736e438c6 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/release-lib.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/release-lib.nix
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ rec {
   prio = level: job: toJob job // { schedulingPriority = level; };
 
   toJob = x: if builtins.isAttrs x then x else
-    { type = "job"; systems = x; schedulingPriority = 10; };
+    { type = "job"; systems = x; schedulingPriority = 5; };
 
   /* Perform a job on the given set of platforms.  The function `f' is
      called by Hydra for each platform, and should return some job