diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-contributor.yml b/.github/workflows/check-contributor.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b4b7d2b78c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-contributor.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+name: Check Contributor
+
+# Checks that the input user exists in the approvers section
+# of a given OWNERS file.
+#
+# Returns true/false at the is-repo-owner output.
+#
+# Can be configured to fail altogether for contexts where it makes sense,
+# but in cases where this needs to return a green check mark, it is the
+# the caller's responsibility to evaluate the is-repo-owner output to inform
+# whether to proceed with subsequent tasks.
+#
+# Intended for use with workflows triggered by pull_request_target (or similar)
+# events.
+
+on:
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      user:
+        type: string
+        required: true
+        description: 
+          the user to evaluate
+      fail-workflow-if-not:
+        type: boolean
+        required: false
+        default: false
+        description: |
+          fails this workflow if the contributor is not an owner, 
+          or the evaluation fails for any other reason
+    outputs:
+      is-repo-owner: # 'true' / 'false'
+        description: whether the input user is a repo owner
+        value: ${{ jobs.check-contributor.outputs.is-repo-owner }}
+jobs:
+  check-contributor:
+    outputs:
+      is-repo-owner: ${{ steps.populate-output.outputs.is-repo-owner }}
+    name: Contributor is repo owner
+    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository base
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      
+      - name: Set up Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.10"
+      
+      - name: Install CI Scripts
+        run: |
+          # set up python scripts
+          echo "set up python script in $PWD"
+          python3 -m venv ve1
+          cd scripts
+          ../ve1/bin/pip3 install -r requirements.txt
+          ../ve1/bin/pip3 install .
+          cd ..
+      
+      - name: Check contributor
+        # The return code from this script is what's important in this workflow.
+        id: check-contributor
+        continue-on-error: true
+        run: |
+          ./ve1/bin/user-is-repo-owner ${{ inputs.user }}
+      
+      - name: Add result to output
+        id: populate-output
+        # Outcome is the result of the workflow before continue-on-error is applied.
+        run: |
+          echo "is-repo-owner=${{ steps.check-contributor.outcome == 'success' }}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+      
+      - name: Fail if requested and the user is not a repo owner
+        if: inputs.fail-workflow-if-not && steps.populate-output.outputs.is-repo-owner != 'true'
+        run: |
+          echo "::error::Workflow is failing at the caller's request."
+          exit -1
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 9f4a9b3135..d52c49bb21 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -25,11 +25,19 @@ on:
         default: ""
 
 jobs:
+  check-contributor:
+    name: Check contributor
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/check-contributor.yml
+    with:
+      user: ${{ github.event.pull_request.user.login }}
+
   workflow-test:
     name: Workflow Test
+    needs: [check-contributor]
     runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
     if: |
-      github.event.pull_request.draft == false
+      github.event.pull_request.draft == false &&
+      needs.check-contributor.outputs.is-repo-owner == 'true'
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
diff --git a/scripts/setup.cfg b/scripts/setup.cfg
index 059ac5c1ca..ebc5ae9d18 100644
--- a/scripts/setup.cfg
+++ b/scripts/setup.cfg
@@ -46,4 +46,5 @@ console_scripts =
     get-verify-params = report.get_verify_params:main
     pushowners=metrics.pushowners:main
     update-index=updateindex.updateindex:main
+    user-is-repo-owner=owners.user_is_repo_owner:main
 
diff --git a/scripts/src/owners/user_is_repo_owner.py b/scripts/src/owners/user_is_repo_owner.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ed2e532f7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/src/owners/user_is_repo_owner.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+"""A quick way to check if a given user is an approver in the repository's OWNERS file.
+
+Accepts only a single value (the username)
+
+Returns 0 if the user is found in the OWNERS file in the approver section.
+Returns 1 if the user is NOT found in the OWNERS file.
+Any other non-zero is considered a failed execution (contextually, something broke)
+"""
+
+import os
+import sys
+import yaml
+
+try:
+    from yaml import CLoader as Loader
+except ImportError:
+    from yaml import Loader
+
+OWNERS_FILE = "OWNERS"
+
+
+def is_approver(username: str) -> bool:
+    """Returns true if username is in the OWNERS file
+
+    Raises an Exception in cases where the content from the OWNERS file
+    does not match our expectations.
+    """
+
+    with open(OWNERS_FILE, "r") as f:
+        data = f.read()
+        out = yaml.load(data, Loader=Loader)
+
+    if "approvers" not in out:
+        raise Exception('OWNERS file did not have the required "approvers" key')
+
+    approvers = out.get("approvers")
+    if not isinstance(approvers, list):
+        raise Exception('The "approvers" key was not a list, and a list is expected')
+
+    if username in out.get("approvers"):
+        return True
+
+    return False
+
+
+def main():
+    if len(sys.argv) != 2:
+        print(
+            "[Error] This script accepts only a single string as an argument, representing the user to check."
+        )
+        return 10
+
+    user = sys.argv[1]
+
+    print(f"[Info] Checking OWNERS file at path {os.path.abspath(OWNERS_FILE)}")
+    if not os.path.exists(OWNERS_FILE):
+        print(f"{OWNERS_FILE} file does not exist.")
+        return 20
+
+    try:
+        if is_approver(user):
+            print(f'[Info] User "{user}" is an approver.')
+            return 0
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"[Error] Could not extract expected values from OWNERS file: {e}.")
+        return 30
+
+    print(f'[Info] User "{user}" is NOT an approver.')
+    return 1
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main())