diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 8cb86557..78a8cc2f 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@adobe/aio-lib-runtime",
-  "version": "7.4.2",
+  "version": "7.5.0",
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "main": "src/index.js",
   "bugs": {
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
     "@adobe/aio-lib-core-logging": "^3",
     "@adobe/aio-lib-core-networking": "^5",
     "@adobe/aio-lib-env": "^3.0.0",
-    "archiver": "^7.0.1",
+    "archiver": "^8.0.0",
     "dependency-tree": "^11.0.1",
     "execa": "^4.0.3",
     "folder-hash": "^4.0.4",
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@
     "@types/node-fetch": "^2.5.4",
     "babel-runtime": "^6.26.0",
     "codecov": "^3.5.0",
+    "cross-env": "^7.0.3",
     "dotenv": "^16.3.1",
     "eol": "^0.9.1",
     "eslint": "^8.57.1",
@@ -70,7 +71,7 @@
     "beautify": "eslint src test e2e --fix",
     "test": "npm run unit-tests && npm run lint",
     "typings": "jsdoc -t node_modules/tsd-jsdoc/dist -r src -d .",
-    "unit-tests": "jest --ci",
+    "unit-tests": "cross-env NODE_OPTIONS=--experimental-vm-modules jest --ci",
     "version": "npm run generate-docs && git add README.md"
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/utils.js b/src/utils.js
index 04e947f2..6c0cdea0 100644
--- a/src/utils.js
+++ b/src/utils.js
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ const yaml = require('js-yaml')
 const { createFetch } = require('@adobe/aio-lib-core-networking')
 const globby = require('globby')
 const path = require('path')
-const archiver = require('archiver')
+// archiver 8 is ESM-only and exposes a class API; load it lazily via dynamic import from this CommonJS module
 // this is a static list that comes from here:  https://developer.adobe.com/runtime/docs/guides/reference/runtimes/
 const SupportedRuntimes = ['sequence', 'blackbox', 'nodejs:10', 'nodejs:12', 'nodejs:14', 'nodejs:16', 'nodejs:18', 'nodejs:20', 'nodejs:22', 'nodejs:24', 'nodejs:26']
 const { HttpProxyAgent } = require('http-proxy-agent')
@@ -451,8 +451,9 @@ function getActionEntryFile (pkgJsonPath) {
  * @param {boolean} pathInZip internal path in zip
  * @returns {Promise} returns with a blank promise when done
  */
-function zip (filePath, out, pathInZip = false) {
+async function zip (filePath, out, pathInZip = false) {
   aioLogger.debug(`Creating zip of file/folder ${filePath}`)
+  const { ZipArchive } = await import('archiver') // eslint-disable-line node/no-unsupported-features/es-syntax
 
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
     let stats
@@ -463,7 +464,7 @@ function zip (filePath, out, pathInZip = false) {
     }
 
     const stream = fs.createWriteStream(out)
-    const archive = archiver('zip', { zlib: { level: 9 } })
+    const archive = new ZipArchive({ zlib: { level: 9 } })
     stream.on('close', () => resolve())
     archive.pipe(stream)
     archive.on('error', err => reject(err))
diff --git a/test/__mocks__/archiver.js b/test/__mocks__/archiver.js
index b916cdd6..e654521a 100644
--- a/test/__mocks__/archiver.js
+++ b/test/__mocks__/archiver.js
@@ -28,20 +28,25 @@ const mockArchive = () => {
   return ret
 }
 
-const archiver = function (...args) {
-  mockConstructor(args)
-  return mockArchive()
+// archiver 8 exposes a class API (`new ZipArchive(options)`); mock it as a class whose
+// constructor returns the fake archive stream, preserving the previous mock behavior.
+class ZipArchive {
+  constructor (...args) {
+    mockConstructor(args)
+    return mockArchive()
+  }
 }
 
-archiver.mockFile = mockFile
-archiver.mockDirectory = mockDirectory
-archiver.mockConstructor = mockConstructor
-archiver.setFakeError = function (e) { fakeError = e }
-archiver.mockReset = () => {
-  mockConstructor.mockReset()
-  mockDirectory.mockReset()
-  mockFile.mockReset()
-  fakeError = false
+module.exports = {
+  ZipArchive,
+  mockFile,
+  mockDirectory,
+  mockConstructor,
+  setFakeError: function (e) { fakeError = e },
+  mockReset: () => {
+    mockConstructor.mockReset()
+    mockDirectory.mockReset()
+    mockFile.mockReset()
+    fakeError = false
+  }
 }
-
-module.exports = archiver
diff --git a/test/utils.test.js b/test/utils.test.js
index 6be08f33..8143407f 100644
--- a/test/utils.test.js
+++ b/test/utils.test.js
@@ -14,13 +14,13 @@ const fs = require('fs-extra')
 const cloneDeep = require('lodash.clonedeep')
 const os = require('os')
 const path = require('path')
-const archiver = require('archiver')
+const archiver = require('./__mocks__/archiver') // eslint-disable-line jest/no-mocks-import
 const networking = require('@adobe/aio-lib-core-networking')
 const aioLogger = require('@adobe/aio-lib-core-logging')('@adobe/aio-lib-runtime:utils', { provider: 'debug', level: process.env.LOG_LEVEL })
 networking.createFetch = jest.fn()
 const mockFetch = jest.fn()
 networking.createFetch.mockReturnValue(mockFetch)
-jest.mock('archiver')
+jest.unstable_mockModule('archiver', () => archiver)
 jest.mock('@adobe/aio-lib-core-networking')
 jest.mock('globby')