diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index cdaa71a..d478e75 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -97,6 +97,31 @@
     <url>https://github.com/Breeding-Insight/brapi/issues</url>
   </issueManagement>
 
+  <profiles>
+    <profile>
+      <id>release</id>
+      <build>
+        <plugins>
+          <!-- GPG signing plugin, only necessary for release builds -->
+          <plugin>
+            <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+            <artifactId>maven-gpg-plugin</artifactId>
+            <version>1.6</version>
+            <executions>
+              <execution>
+                <id>sign-artifacts</id>
+                <phase>verify</phase>
+                <goals>
+                  <goal>sign</goal>
+                </goals>
+              </execution>
+            </executions>
+          </plugin>
+        </plugins>
+      </build>
+    </profile>
+  </profiles>
+
   <properties>
     <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
     <java.version>8</java.version>
@@ -128,17 +153,6 @@
     </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
-  <distributionManagement>
-    <snapshotRepository>
-      <id>ossrh</id>
-      <url>https://s01.oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/</url>
-    </snapshotRepository>
-    <repository>
-      <id>ossrh</id>
-      <url>https://s01.oss.sonatype.org/service/local/staging/deploy/maven2/</url>
-    </repository>
-  </distributionManagement>
-
   <build>
     <plugins>
       <plugin>