diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 87109c8b40..ef3c655464 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-mkfile_path := $(abspath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))
-current_dir := $(dir $(mkfile_path))
-
 include awx/ui-next/Makefile
 
 PYTHON ?= python3.9
@@ -402,7 +399,7 @@ bulk_data:
 # UI TASKS
 # --------------------------------------
 
-UI_BUILD_FLAG_FILE = $(current_dir)ui/.ui-built
+UI_BUILD_FLAG_FILE = $(CURDIR)/ui/.ui-built
 
 clean-ui:
 	rm -rf node_modules
diff --git a/awx/ui-next/Makefile b/awx/ui-next/Makefile
index d47583e1db..b4fe199821 100644
--- a/awx/ui-next/Makefile
+++ b/awx/ui-next/Makefile
@@ -1,21 +1,14 @@
 ui_next_mkfile_path := $(abspath $(lastword $(MAKEFILE_LIST)))
-ui_next_dir := $(dir $(ui_next_mkfile_path))
+ui_next_dir := $(shell realpath --relative-to $(CURDIR) $(dir $(ui_next_mkfile_path)))
 
-ifeq ($(current_dir), undefined)
-	ui_next_dir := $(dir $(ui_next_mkfile_path))
-else
-	ui_next_dir := $(shell realpath --relative-to $(current_dir) $(ui_next_dir))/
-endif
+ANSIBLE_UI_DIR ?= $(ui_next_dir)/src
 
 ANSIBLE_UI_GIT_REPO_HTTPS ?=
 ANSIBLE_UI_GIT_REPO_SSH ?=
-
 ANSIBLE_UI_GIT_BRANCH ?= main
 
 ANSIBLE_UI_LOCAL ?=
 
-ANSIBLE_UI_DIR ?= $(ui_next_dir)ansible-ui
-
 .PHONY: ui-next/clone-https
 ## Shallow clone the ui-next repo via https skip if ANSIBLE_UI_GIT_REPO_HTTPS is undefined
 ui-next/clone-https: