diff --git a/google-cloud-pom-parent/pom.xml b/google-cloud-pom-parent/pom.xml
index f5016a5dc0c1..d47db4505393 100644
--- a/google-cloud-pom-parent/pom.xml
+++ b/google-cloud-pom-parent/pom.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,9 @@
   <properties>
     <skipUnitTests>false</skipUnitTests>
     <checkstyle.header.file>java.header</checkstyle.header.file>
+    <!-- maven-shade-plugin does not define a built-in user property for its skip parameter;
+         shade.skip is declared here and mapped in shaded modules to allow quick-build to toggle it off. -->
+    <shade.skip>false</shade.skip>
   </properties>
 
   <developers>
@@ -72,6 +75,7 @@
         <fmt.skip>true</fmt.skip>
         <flatten.skip>true</flatten.skip>
         <mdep.analyze.skip>true</mdep.analyze.skip>
+        <shade.skip>true</shade.skip>
       </properties>
     </profile>
     <profile>
diff --git a/java-bigquery/benchmark/pom.xml b/java-bigquery/benchmark/pom.xml
index ead40fbcc5b3..2c4d95a2ccd1 100644
--- a/java-bigquery/benchmark/pom.xml
+++ b/java-bigquery/benchmark/pom.xml
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@
               <goal>shade</goal>
             </goals>
             <configuration>
+              <skip>${shade.skip}</skip>
               <finalName>${uberjar.name}</finalName>
               <transformers>
                 <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ManifestResourceTransformer">
diff --git a/java-bigtable/pom.xml b/java-bigtable/pom.xml
index c6bd75e5f4f7..f8c14b726cd7 100644
--- a/java-bigtable/pom.xml
+++ b/java-bigtable/pom.xml
@@ -286,6 +286,9 @@
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-shade-plugin</artifactId>
                 <version>3.6.0</version>
+                <configuration>
+                    <skip>${shade.skip}</skip>
+                </configuration>
             </plugin>
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
diff --git a/java-bigtable/test-proxy/pom.xml b/java-bigtable/test-proxy/pom.xml
index d01521d8dedc..63e8a85f732d 100644
--- a/java-bigtable/test-proxy/pom.xml
+++ b/java-bigtable/test-proxy/pom.xml
@@ -158,6 +158,7 @@
                 <goal>shade</goal>
               </goals>
               <configuration>
+                <skip>${shade.skip}</skip>
                 <filters>
                   <filter>
                     <artifact>*:*</artifact>
diff --git a/java-cloud-bom/pom.xml b/java-cloud-bom/pom.xml
index ec55d6f62f09..35df7633e2ea 100644
--- a/java-cloud-bom/pom.xml
+++ b/java-cloud-bom/pom.xml
@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@
 
   <properties>
     <enforcer.skip>true</enforcer.skip>
+    <!-- maven-shade-plugin does not define a built-in user property for its skip parameter;
+         shade.skip is declared here and mapped in shaded modules to allow quick-build to toggle it off. -->
+    <shade.skip>false</shade.skip>
   </properties>
 
   <modules>
@@ -116,6 +119,7 @@
         <fmt.skip>true</fmt.skip>
         <flatten.skip>true</flatten.skip>
         <mdep.analyze.skip>true</mdep.analyze.skip>
+        <shade.skip>true</shade.skip>
       </properties>
     </profile>
     <profile>
diff --git a/java-spanner-jdbc/pom.xml b/java-spanner-jdbc/pom.xml
index e5ef2d1a4a46..d6143b4895dc 100644
--- a/java-spanner-jdbc/pom.xml
+++ b/java-spanner-jdbc/pom.xml
@@ -275,6 +275,7 @@
               <goal>shade</goal>
             </goals>
             <configuration>
+              <skip>${shade.skip}</skip>
               <createSourcesJar>true</createSourcesJar>
               <shadeSourcesContent>true</shadeSourcesContent>
               <shadedArtifactAttached>true</shadedArtifactAttached>
diff --git a/java-storage-nio/google-cloud-nio/pom.xml b/java-storage-nio/google-cloud-nio/pom.xml
index f26d91de2d5a..ac841e4c19e2 100644
--- a/java-storage-nio/google-cloud-nio/pom.xml
+++ b/java-storage-nio/google-cloud-nio/pom.xml
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@
           </dependency>
         </dependencies>
         <configuration>
+          <skip>${shade.skip}</skip>
           <shadedArtifactAttached>true</shadedArtifactAttached>
           <relocations>
             <relocation>
diff --git a/java-storage/storage-shared-benchmarking/pom.xml b/java-storage/storage-shared-benchmarking/pom.xml
index cf7251efc0cc..720cc3a8c2ae 100644
--- a/java-storage/storage-shared-benchmarking/pom.xml
+++ b/java-storage/storage-shared-benchmarking/pom.xml
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@
               <goal>shade</goal>
             </goals>
             <configuration>
+              <skip>${shade.skip}</skip>
               <finalName>${uberjar.name}</finalName>
               <transformers>
                 <transformer implementation="org.apache.maven.plugins.shade.resource.ManifestResourceTransformer">