`compile-production-assets` job missing for stable branch pipelines started by GitLab bot

We've been noticing failures in the stable branches with YAML invalid errors when started by the GitLab bot. Example incidents:

• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/tasks/-/issues/13813
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/tasks/-/issues/13812
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/tasks/-/issues/13814
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/tasks/-/issues/14496
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/tasks/-/issues/14507
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/tasks/-/issues/14524
• https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/tasks/-/issues/14524

Specifically, the error message is:

Unable to create pipeline 
 - 'build-assets-image' job needs 'compile-production-assets' job, but 'compile-production-assets' is not in any previous stage

We have to make sure that stable branches are green since this might affect our patch releases.

Workaround

The current workaround is to manually start a pipeline in the stable branch.