diff --git a/roles/ansible-test-splitter/files/split_targets.py b/roles/ansible-test-splitter/files/split_targets.py
index c2493a234..52847fd18 100644
--- a/roles/ansible-test-splitter/files/split_targets.py
+++ b/roles/ansible-test-splitter/files/split_targets.py
@@ -1,16 +1,38 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 
 from pathlib import PosixPath
-import sys
+import getopt
 import json
+import sys
+
+try:
+    opts, args = getopt.getopt(sys.argv,"ht:j:p:")
+except getopt.GetoptError:
+    print('split_targets.py -t <targets> -j <total_jobs> -p <job_prefix>')
+    sys.exit(2)
 
-job_prefix = sys.argv[1]
-if len(sys.argv) == 3:
-    targets_from_cli = sys.argv[2].split(" ")
+targets = ""
+job_prefix = "job"
+job_count = 10
+
+for opt, arg in opts:
+    if opt == '-h':
+        print('split_targets.py -t <targets> -j <total_jobs> -p <job_prefix>')
+        sys.exit(0)
+    if opt == '-p':
+        job_prefix = arg
+    if opt == '-t':
+        targets_from_cli = arg
+    if opt == '-c':
+        job_count = int(arg)
+
+if targets:
+    targets_from_cli = targets.split(" ")
 else:
     targets_from_cli = []
-jobs = [f"{job_prefix}{i}" for i in range(10)]
-total_jobs = 10
+
+jobs = [f"{job_prefix}{i}" for i in range(job_count)]
+total_jobs = job_count
 slow_targets = []
 regular_targets = []
 
diff --git a/roles/ansible-test-splitter/tasks/split_targets.yaml b/roles/ansible-test-splitter/tasks/split_targets.yaml
index 3d4a8dd1f..b3725409b 100644
--- a/roles/ansible-test-splitter/tasks/split_targets.yaml
+++ b/roles/ansible-test-splitter/tasks/split_targets.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,11 @@
     mode: '0700'
 
 - name: Split the workload
-  command: python3 /tmp/split_targets.py "{{ ansible_test_splitter__children_prefix }}" "{{ ansible_test_splitter__targets_to_test|default('') }}"
+  command: >-
+    python3 /tmp/split_targets.py
+    -p "{{ ansible_test_splitter__children_prefix }}"
+    -t "{{ ansible_test_splitter__targets_to_test|default('') }}"
+    -c 10
   args:
     chdir: "{{ ansible_test_location }}"
   register: _result