diff --git a/.github/workflows/_required.yml b/.github/workflows/_required.yml
index 5fe39af..0df426b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_required.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_required.yml
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ jobs:
     name: unit-tests
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
     timeout-minutes: 15
+    needs: lint
     permissions:
       contents: read
     steps:
diff --git a/tests/smoke/__init__.py b/tests/smoke/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/tests/smoke/test_required_workflow_properties.py b/tests/smoke/test_required_workflow_properties.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b888a9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/smoke/test_required_workflow_properties.py
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+
+WORKFLOW = Path(__file__).parent.parent.parent / ".github" / "workflows" / "_required.yml"
+
+
+def test_required_workflow_exists() -> None:
+    assert WORKFLOW.exists(), f"Workflow file not found: {WORKFLOW}"
+
+
+def test_unit_tests_job_invokes_pytest() -> None:
+    content = WORKFLOW.read_text()
+    assert "pytest" in content, (
+        "unit-tests job in _required.yml does not invoke pytest — "
+        "test regressions will reach main undetected"
+    )