diff --git a/roles/cifmw_helpers/tasks/include_dir.yml b/roles/cifmw_helpers/tasks/include_dir.yml
index d6a3682df..bf6f37465 100644
--- a/roles/cifmw_helpers/tasks/include_dir.yml
+++ b/roles/cifmw_helpers/tasks/include_dir.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,11 @@
         included_file: "{{ _file_to_parse.path }}"
       ansible.builtin.include_tasks:
         file: include_file.yml
-      loop: "{{ _yaml_files.files }}"
+      # ansible.builtin.find does not guarantee sorted results, so without
+      # an explicit sort, include order (and therefore which file's
+      # variables win on conflicting keys) is filesystem-order dependent
+      # rather than deterministic.
+      loop: "{{ _yaml_files.files | sort(attribute='path') }}"
       loop_control:
         loop_var: _file_to_parse
       no_log: "{{ cifmw_helpers_no_log }}"