use docker image that supports systemd in CI

Gitlab CI allows to specify custom docker image (https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/ci/yaml/index.html#image). Try something that already has systemd inside, like https://github.com/minimum2scp/dockerfiles/tree/master/systemd-bookworm (https://hub.docker.com/r/minimum2scp/systemd-bookworm/).

(But keep in mind, that I just came up with this idea, I never tried using custom docker images in gitlab ci, and never used anything by minimum2scp)

To upload designs, you'll need to enable LFS and have an admin enable hashed storage. More information