diff --git a/docs/en/api-guides/build-system.rst b/docs/en/api-guides/build-system.rst
index bec630be8b0..738fe2f02a6 100644
--- a/docs/en/api-guides/build-system.rst
+++ b/docs/en/api-guides/build-system.rst
@@ -77,7 +77,13 @@ In the above list, the ``cmake`` command configures the project and generates bu
 
 It's not necessary to run ``cmake`` more than once. After the first build, you only need to run ``ninja`` each time. ``ninja`` will automatically re-invoke ``cmake`` if the project needs reconfiguration.
 
-When using ``idf.py`` with the Ninja generator, you can cap the number of parallel build jobs by setting the ``IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS`` environment variable. For example:
+You can control the number of parallel build jobs passed to the underlying build tool (Ninja or Make) with the ``-j``/``--jobs`` option of ``idf.py``. For example:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    idf.py -j 6 build
+
+The same value can be set with the ``IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS`` environment variable, which is used as the default when ``-j``/``--jobs`` is not given:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
diff --git a/docs/zh_CN/api-guides/build-system.rst b/docs/zh_CN/api-guides/build-system.rst
index 2f41f4d8971..e09eacff7e3 100644
--- a/docs/zh_CN/api-guides/build-system.rst
+++ b/docs/zh_CN/api-guides/build-system.rst
@@ -77,7 +77,13 @@ idf.py
 
 没有必要多次运行 ``cmake``。第一次构建后，往后每次只需运行 ``ninja`` 即可。如果项目需要重新配置，``ninja`` 会自动重新调用 ``cmake``。
 
-使用 Ninja 生成器配合 ``idf.py`` 时，可以通过设置环境变量 ``IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS`` 来限制并行构建任务数。例如：
+使用 ``idf.py`` 时，可以通过 ``-j``/``--jobs`` 选项来控制传递给底层构建工具（Ninja 或 Make）的并行构建任务数。例如：
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    idf.py -j 6 build
+
+也可以通过设置环境变量 ``IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS`` 来指定该值，当未提供 ``-j``/``--jobs`` 时，该环境变量将作为默认值使用：
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
diff --git a/tools/idf_py_actions/constants.py b/tools/idf_py_actions/constants.py
index 3c97b50affe..b21b5a4aba0 100644
--- a/tools/idf_py_actions/constants.py
+++ b/tools/idf_py_actions/constants.py
@@ -29,7 +29,9 @@ GENERATORS: dict[str, str | dict | list] = collections.OrderedDict(
 if os.name != 'nt':
     MAKE_CMD = 'gmake' if platform.system() == 'FreeBSD' else 'make'
     GENERATORS['Unix Makefiles'] = {
-        'command': [MAKE_CMD, '-j', str(multiprocessing.cpu_count() + 2)],
+        # Make, unlike Ninja, does not parallelize by default; run_target() applies this as -j.
+        'default_jobs': multiprocessing.cpu_count() + 2,
+        'command': [MAKE_CMD],
         'version': [MAKE_CMD, '--version'],
         'dry_run': [MAKE_CMD, '-n'],
         'verbose_flag': 'VERBOSE=1',
diff --git a/tools/idf_py_actions/core_ext.py b/tools/idf_py_actions/core_ext.py
index 24c26d9d740..08a83b25bfa 100644
--- a/tools/idf_py_actions/core_ext.py
+++ b/tools/idf_py_actions/core_ext.py
@@ -537,6 +537,13 @@ def action_extensions(base_actions: dict, project_path: str) -> Any:
                 'help': 'CMake generator.',
                 'type': click.Choice(GENERATORS.keys()),
             },
+            {
+                'names': ['-j', '--jobs'],
+                'help': 'Number of parallel build jobs passed to the build tool (Ninja or Make).',
+                'envvar': 'IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS',
+                'type': click.IntRange(min=1),
+                'default': None,
+            },
             {
                 'names': ['--dry-run'],
                 'help': "Only process arguments, but don't execute actions.",
diff --git a/tools/idf_py_actions/global_options.py b/tools/idf_py_actions/global_options.py
index fecc40042e9..3dcf2894566 100644
--- a/tools/idf_py_actions/global_options.py
+++ b/tools/idf_py_actions/global_options.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022 Espressif Systems (Shanghai) CO LTD
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2022-2026 Espressif Systems (Shanghai) CO LTD
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 global_options = [{
     'names': ['-D', '--define-cache-entry'],
diff --git a/tools/idf_py_actions/tools.py b/tools/idf_py_actions/tools.py
index 015f536973f..7bda66f1bdd 100644
--- a/tools/idf_py_actions/tools.py
+++ b/tools/idf_py_actions/tools.py
@@ -667,18 +667,13 @@ def run_target(
 
     generator_cmd = list(GENERATORS[args.generator]['command'])
 
-    if args.generator == 'Ninja':
-        parallel_level = os.environ.get('IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS')
-        if parallel_level:
-            try:
-                jobs = int(parallel_level)
-            except ValueError as e:
-                raise FatalError('Environment variable IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS must be a positive integer') from e
+    # Parallel jobs from -j/--jobs (or IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS), falling back to the generator's default.
+    jobs = getattr(args, 'jobs', None)
+    if jobs is None:
+        jobs = GENERATORS[args.generator].get('default_jobs')
 
-            if jobs <= 0:
-                raise FatalError('Environment variable IDF_PY_BUILD_JOBS must be a positive integer')
-
-            generator_cmd += ['-j', str(jobs)]
+    if jobs is not None:
+        generator_cmd += ['-j', str(jobs)]
 
     if args.verbose:
         generator_cmd += [GENERATORS[args.generator]['verbose_flag']]