diff --git a/app/models/project.rb b/app/models/project.rb
index af62e8ecd9..8781a3cf7a 100644
--- a/app/models/project.rb
+++ b/app/models/project.rb
@@ -1034,4 +1034,14 @@ class Project < ActiveRecord::Base
   def wiki
     @wiki ||= ProjectWiki.new(self, self.owner)
   end
+
+  def add_export_job(current_user_id:)
+    job_id = ProjectExportWorker.perform_async(current_user_id, self.id)
+
+    if job_id
+      Rails.logger.info "Export job started for project ID #{self.id} with job ID #{job_id}"
+    else
+      Rails.logger.error "Export job failed to start for project ID #{self.id}"
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/workers/project_export_worker.rb b/app/workers/project_export_worker.rb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a1add5395b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/workers/project_export_worker.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+class ProjectExportWorker
+  include Sidekiq::Worker
+
+  # TODO: enabled retry - disabled for QA purposes
+  sidekiq_options queue: :gitlab_shell, retry: false
+
+  def perform(current_user_id, project_id)
+    current_user = User.find(current_user_id)
+    project = Project.find(project_id)
+    ::Projects::ImportExport::ExportService.new(project, current_user).execute
+    # TODO : Handle errors
+  end
+end