diff --git a/.ci/scripts/wheel/pre_build_script.sh b/.ci/scripts/wheel/pre_build_script.sh
index 365398d27a4..5ad57f3c710 100755
--- a/.ci/scripts/wheel/pre_build_script.sh
+++ b/.ci/scripts/wheel/pre_build_script.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@
 # Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
 # All rights reserved.
 #
+# Copyright 2026 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates.
+#
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
 
@@ -57,6 +59,18 @@ fi
 
 "${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/${REPOSITORY}/install_requirements.sh" --example
 
+# Enable VGF in pybind wheel builds when the platform-specific build input is
+# available from pip.
+if [[ "$UNAME_S" == "Linux" || "$UNAME_S" == "Darwin" ]]; then
+  if python3 -m pip install -r \
+    "${GITHUB_WORKSPACE}/${REPOSITORY}/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf-runtime.txt"; then
+    export EXECUTORCH_PYBIND_ENABLE_VGF=ON
+    echo "EXECUTORCH_PYBIND_ENABLE_VGF=ON" >> "${GITHUB_ENV}"
+  else
+    echo "VGF build dependency unavailable on this platform; building without VGF"
+  fi
+fi
+
 # Download Qualcomm QNN SDK on Linux x86_64 so the wheel build can include the
 # QNN backend.  The SDK is large, so we download it here (outside CMake) rather
 # than during cmake configure.
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ce0def6000b..a8c7edc1216 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -994,6 +994,10 @@ if(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_PYBIND)
     list(APPEND _dep_libs coremldelegate)
   endif()
 
+  if(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_VGF)
+    list(APPEND _dep_libs vgf_backend)
+  endif()
+
   if(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_MPS)
     list(APPEND _dep_libs mpsdelegate)
   endif()
diff --git a/backends/arm/CMakeLists.txt b/backends/arm/CMakeLists.txt
index 12c46107104..81a5d488c1a 100644
--- a/backends/arm/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/backends/arm/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -160,6 +160,9 @@ if(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_VGF)
   set(_vgf_backend_sources backends/arm/runtime/VGFBackend.cpp
                            backends/arm/runtime/VGFSetup.cpp
   )
+  if(NOT EXECUTORCH_BUILD_VULKAN)
+    list(APPEND _vgf_backend_sources backends/vulkan/third-party/volk/volk.c)
+  endif()
 
   # vgf backend
   list(TRANSFORM _vgf_backend_sources PREPEND "${EXECUTORCH_ROOT}/")
diff --git a/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf-runtime.txt b/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf-runtime.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e395862d0dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf-runtime.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Copyright 2026 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates.
+#
+# This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
+# LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+
+# Runtime build dependencies for the Arm VGF backend.
+
+ai_ml_sdk_vgf_library == 0.9.0
diff --git a/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf.txt b/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf.txt
index 5627c4f13ec..30cc48f2836 100644
--- a/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf.txt
+++ b/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf.txt
@@ -7,4 +7,3 @@
 
 ai_ml_emulation_layer_for_vulkan == 0.9.0
 ai_ml_sdk_model_converter == 0.9.0
-ai_ml_sdk_vgf_library == 0.9.0
diff --git a/backends/arm/scripts/setup-mlsdk-from-source.sh b/backends/arm/scripts/setup-mlsdk-from-source.sh
index 0d6b6040bf9..d8ec1795a23 100755
--- a/backends/arm/scripts/setup-mlsdk-from-source.sh
+++ b/backends/arm/scripts/setup-mlsdk-from-source.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ root_dir="${et_dir}/examples/arm/arm-scratch"
 setup_path_script=""
 mlsdk_manifest_dir="ml-sdk-for-vulkan-manifest"
 mlsdk_manifest_url="${MLSDK_MANIFEST_URL:-https://github.com/arm/ai-ml-sdk-manifest.git}"
-mlsdk_manifest_tag="${MLSDK_MANIFEST_TAG:-refs/tags/v2026.03.0}" # Keep this in sync with what is mentioned in requirements-arm-vgf.txt
+mlsdk_manifest_tag="${MLSDK_MANIFEST_TAG:-refs/tags/v2026.03.0}" # Keep this in sync with backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf.txt and backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf-runtime.txt
 
 enable_model_converter=0
 enable_vgf_lib=0
diff --git a/examples/arm/setup.sh b/examples/arm/setup.sh
index 323815b59a2..7d452293766 100755
--- a/examples/arm/setup.sh
+++ b/examples/arm/setup.sh
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ function check_options() {
                 ;;
             --setup-test-dependency)
                 log_step "deps" "Installing test dependency..."
-                source $et_dir/backends/arm/scripts/install_models_for_test.sh
+                source "$et_dir/backends/arm/scripts/install_models_for_test.sh"
                 exit 0
                 ;;
             --help)
@@ -208,12 +208,18 @@ function setup_root_dir() {
 
 function setup_ethos_u_tools() {
     log_step "ethos-u-tools" "Installing Ethos-U Python tooling"
-    CMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 BUILD_PYBIND=1 pip install --no-dependencies -r $et_dir/backends/arm/requirements-arm-ethos-u.txt
+    CMAKE_POLICY_VERSION_MINIMUM=3.5 BUILD_PYBIND=1 pip install --no-dependencies -r "$et_dir/backends/arm/requirements-arm-ethos-u.txt"
 }
 
 function setup_mlsdk_dependencies() {
     log_step "mlsdk" "Installing MLSDK dependencies"
-    pip install -r $et_dir/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf.txt
+    if [[ "${enable_model_converter}" -eq 1 || "${enable_emulation_layer}" -eq 1 ]]; then
+        pip install -r "$et_dir/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf.txt"
+    fi
+
+    if [[ "${enable_vgf_lib}" -eq 1 ]]; then
+        pip install -r "$et_dir/backends/arm/requirements-arm-vgf-runtime.txt"
+    fi
 }
 
 function validate_mlsdk_pip_compatibility() {
diff --git a/tools/cmake/preset/pybind.cmake b/tools/cmake/preset/pybind.cmake
index ecce850ab3c..0b84fb93d79 100644
--- a/tools/cmake/preset/pybind.cmake
+++ b/tools/cmake/preset/pybind.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
 # All rights reserved.
+# Copyright 2026 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates.
 #
 # This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
 # LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
@@ -25,9 +26,22 @@ set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_EXTENSION_MODULE ON)
 set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_EXTENSION_NAMED_DATA_MAP ON)
 set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_WHEEL_DO_NOT_USE ON)
 
+# Optional VGF enable for the default pybind/install flow. This is intentionally
+# scoped to this preset rather than acting as a general environment-to-CMake
+# override mechanism.
+set(_executorch_pybind_enable_vgf OFF)
+if(DEFINED ENV{EXECUTORCH_PYBIND_ENABLE_VGF})
+  if("$ENV{EXECUTORCH_PYBIND_ENABLE_VGF}" STREQUAL "ON")
+    set(_executorch_pybind_enable_vgf ON)
+  else()
+    set(_executorch_pybind_enable_vgf OFF)
+  endif()
+endif()
+
 # TODO(larryliu0820): Temporarily disable building llm_runner for Windows wheel
 # due to the issue of tokenizer file path length limitation.
 if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
+  set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_VGF ${_executorch_pybind_enable_vgf})
   set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_COREML ON)
   set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_EXTENSION_TRAINING ON)
   set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_EXTENSION_LLM_RUNNER ON)
@@ -51,6 +65,7 @@ if(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Darwin")
     endif()
   endif()
 elseif(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Linux")
+  set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_VGF ${_executorch_pybind_enable_vgf})
   set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_COREML ON)
   set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_EXTENSION_TRAINING ON)
   set_overridable_option(EXECUTORCH_BUILD_EXTENSION_LLM_RUNNER ON)