diff --git a/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md b/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
index 0a6d9a4a63..f52be5f4d6 100644
--- a/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
+++ b/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ Fork [opensearch-project/opensearch-java](https://github.com/opensearch-project/
 
 ### Install Prerequisites
 
-To run the full suite of tests, download and install [JDK 14](https://jdk.java.net/archive/). Any JDK >= 11 works.
+To run the full suite of tests, download and install [JDK 11](https://jdk.java.net/archive/). Any JDK >= 11 works.
+
+The build will additionally use a JDK 8 to compile the library. You may install your own SDK, or Gradle will install one.
 
 #### Docker
 
diff --git a/config/checkstyle/checkstyle_suppressions.xml b/config/checkstyle/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
index 20cd909876..12978d903d 100644
--- a/config/checkstyle/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
+++ b/config/checkstyle/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
@@ -41,5 +41,5 @@
     <suppress files="client[/\\]src[/\\]main[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]opensearch[/\\]client[/\\]opensearch[^.]*\.java" checks="UnusedImports" />
     <suppress files="client[/\\]src[/\\]main[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]opensearch[/\\]client[/\\]opensearch[/\\]OpenSearch[^.]*\.java" checks="LineLength" />
     <suppress files="client[/\\]src[/\\]main[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]opensearch[/\\]client[/\\]opensearch[/\\]OpenSearch[^.]*\.java" checks="UnusedImports" />
-    <suppress files="client[/\\]src[/\\]test[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]opensearch[/\\]client[/\\]opensearch[/\\]integTest[^.]*\.java" checks="Header" />
+    <suppress files="client[/\\]src[/\\]integrationTest[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]opensearch[/\\]client[/\\]opensearch[/\\]integTest[^.]*\.java" checks="Header" />
 </suppressions>
diff --git a/java-client/build.gradle.kts b/java-client/build.gradle.kts
index be30d29d34..7885407274 100644
--- a/java-client/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/java-client/build.gradle.kts
@@ -56,8 +56,9 @@ checkstyle {
 }
 
 java {
-    targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_11
-    sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_11
+    toolchain {
+        languageVersion.set(JavaLanguageVersion.of(8))
+    }
 
     withJavadocJar()
     withSourcesJar()
@@ -94,6 +95,28 @@ tasks.withType<Jar> {
     }
 }
 
+sourceSets {
+    create("integrationTest") {
+        compileClasspath += sourceSets.main.get().output + sourceSets.test.get().output
+        runtimeClasspath += sourceSets.main.get().output + sourceSets.test.get().output
+        java {
+            setSrcDirs(listOf("src/integrationTest/java"))
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+val integrationTestImplementation by configurations.getting {
+    extendsFrom(configurations.testImplementation.get())
+}
+
+configurations["integrationTestRuntimeOnly"].extendsFrom(configurations.runtimeOnly.get())
+
+tasks.named<JavaCompile>("compileIntegrationTestJava").configure {
+    javaCompiler.set(javaToolchains.compilerFor {
+        languageVersion.set(JavaLanguageVersion.of(11))
+    })
+}
+
 tasks.test {
     systemProperty("tests.security.manager", "false")
 
@@ -105,15 +128,20 @@ tasks.test {
 }
 
 val unitTest = task<Test>("unitTest") {
-    filter {
-        excludeTestsMatching("org.opensearch.client.opensearch.integTest.*")
-    }
 }
 
 val integrationTest = task<Test>("integrationTest") {
-    filter {
-        includeTestsMatching("org.opensearch.client.opensearch.integTest.*")
-    }
+    description = "Runs integration tests."
+    group = "verification"
+
+    testClassesDirs = sourceSets["integrationTest"].output.classesDirs
+    classpath = sourceSets["integrationTest"].runtimeClasspath
+    shouldRunAfter("test")
+
+    javaLauncher.set(javaToolchains.launcherFor {
+        languageVersion.set(JavaLanguageVersion.of(11))
+    })
+
     systemProperty("tests.security.manager", "false")
     // Basic auth settings for integration test
     systemProperty("https", System.getProperty("https", "true"))
@@ -128,8 +156,8 @@ dependencies {
     val jacksonDatabindVersion = "2.12.6.1"
 
     // Apache 2.0
-    implementation("org.opensearch.client", "opensearch-rest-client", opensearchVersion)
-    testImplementation("org.opensearch.test", "framework", opensearchVersion)
+    implementation("org.opensearch.client", "opensearch-rest-client", "1.3.2")
+    integrationTestImplementation("org.opensearch.test", "framework", opensearchVersion)
     implementation("org.apache.logging.log4j", "log4j-core", "2.17.2")
 
     // Apache 2.0
@@ -158,6 +186,7 @@ dependencies {
     // EPL-2.0 OR BSD-3-Clause
     // https://eclipse-ee4j.github.io/yasson/
     implementation("org.eclipse", "yasson", "2.0.2")
+    testImplementation("org.hamcrest:hamcrest:2.1")
 
     // https://github.com/classgraph/classgraph
     testImplementation("io.github.classgraph:classgraph:4.8.116")
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/ClusterClientIT.java b/java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/ClusterClientIT.java
similarity index 100%
rename from java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/ClusterClientIT.java
rename to java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/ClusterClientIT.java
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/CrudIT.java b/java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/CrudIT.java
similarity index 100%
rename from java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/CrudIT.java
rename to java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/CrudIT.java
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/IndicesClientIT.java b/java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/IndicesClientIT.java
similarity index 100%
rename from java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/IndicesClientIT.java
rename to java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/IndicesClientIT.java
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/OpenSearchRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java b/java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/OpenSearchRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java
similarity index 100%
rename from java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/OpenSearchRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java
rename to java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/OpenSearchRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/PingAndInfoIT.java b/java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/PingAndInfoIT.java
similarity index 100%
rename from java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/PingAndInfoIT.java
rename to java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/PingAndInfoIT.java
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/RequestTest.java b/java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/RequestTest.java
similarity index 100%
rename from java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/RequestTest.java
rename to java-client/src/integrationTest/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/integTest/RequestTest.java
diff --git a/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/json/JsonpMapperTest.java b/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/json/JsonpMapperTest.java
index 5c024e8124..bcdfb9b267 100644
--- a/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/json/JsonpMapperTest.java
+++ b/java-client/src/test/java/org/opensearch/client/opensearch/json/JsonpMapperTest.java
@@ -48,8 +48,9 @@
 import jakarta.json.stream.JsonParser;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.Test;
-import org.opensearch.core.internal.io.IOUtils;
 
+import java.io.Closeable;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.StringReader;
 import java.io.StringWriter;
 import java.io.Writer;
@@ -113,7 +114,7 @@ public void testJacksonCustomJsonFactory() {
         }
 
         testDeserialize(mapper, writer.toString());
-        IOUtils.closeWhileHandlingException(writer);
+        closeWhileHandlingException(writer);
     }
 
     private void testSerialize(JsonpMapper mapper, String expected) {
@@ -196,4 +197,13 @@ public void setChildren(List<SomeClass> children) {
             this.children = children;
         }
     }
+
+    private static void closeWhileHandlingException(final Closeable closeable) {
+        // noinspection EmptyCatchBlock
+        try {
+            if (closeable != null) {
+                closeable.close();
+            }
+        } catch (final IOException | RuntimeException e) {}
+    }
 }