diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/.npmrc b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/.npmrc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..070f80f05092
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/.npmrc
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+@sentry:registry=http://127.0.0.1:4873
+@sentry-internal:registry=http://127.0.0.1:4873
diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/package.json b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7a25061dde1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+{
+  "name": "aws-lambda-layer-esm",
+  "version": "1.0.0",
+  "private": true,
+  "scripts": {
+    "start": "node src/run.mjs",
+    "test": "playwright test",
+    "clean": "npx rimraf node_modules pnpm-lock.yaml",
+    "test:build": "pnpm install",
+    "test:assert": "pnpm test"
+  },
+  "//": "Link from local Lambda layer build",
+  "dependencies": {
+    "@sentry/aws-serverless": "link:../../../../packages/aws-serverless/build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "@sentry-internal/test-utils": "link:../../../test-utils",
+    "@playwright/test": "~1.53.2"
+  },
+  "volta": {
+    "extends": "../../package.json"
+  }
+}
diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/playwright.config.ts b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/playwright.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..174593c307df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/playwright.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+import { getPlaywrightConfig } from '@sentry-internal/test-utils';
+
+export default getPlaywrightConfig();
diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/lambda-function.mjs b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/lambda-function.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a9cdd48c1197
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/lambda-function.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+import * as Sentry from '@sentry/aws-serverless';
+
+import * as http from 'node:http';
+
+async function handle() {
+  await Sentry.startSpan({ name: 'manual-span', op: 'test' }, async () => {
+    await new Promise(resolve => {
+      http.get('http://example.com', res => {
+        res.on('data', d => {
+          process.stdout.write(d);
+        });
+
+        res.on('end', () => {
+          resolve();
+        });
+      });
+    });
+  });
+}
+
+export { handle };
diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/run-lambda.mjs b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/run-lambda.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..c30903f9883d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/run-lambda.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+import { handle } from './lambda-function.mjs';
+
+const event = {};
+const context = {
+  invokedFunctionArn: 'arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:123453789012:function:my-lambda',
+  functionName: 'my-lambda',
+};
+await handle(event, context);
diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/run.mjs b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/run.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..4bcd5886a865
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/src/run.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import child_process from 'node:child_process';
+
+child_process.execSync('node ./src/run-lambda.mjs', {
+  stdio: 'inherit',
+  env: {
+    ...process.env,
+    // On AWS, LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT is usually /var/task but for testing, we set it to the CWD to correctly apply our handler
+    LAMBDA_TASK_ROOT: process.cwd(),
+    _HANDLER: 'src/lambda-function.handle',
+
+    NODE_OPTIONS: '--import @sentry/aws-serverless/awslambda-auto',
+    SENTRY_DSN: 'http://public@localhost:3031/1337',
+    SENTRY_TRACES_SAMPLE_RATE: '1.0',
+    SENTRY_DEBUG: 'true',
+  },
+  cwd: process.cwd(),
+});
diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/start-event-proxy.mjs b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/start-event-proxy.mjs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..03fc10269998
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/start-event-proxy.mjs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+import { startEventProxyServer } from '@sentry-internal/test-utils';
+
+startEventProxyServer({
+  port: 3031,
+  proxyServerName: 'aws-lambda-layer-esm',
+});
diff --git a/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/tests/basic.test.ts b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/tests/basic.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2e02fda6486e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev-packages/e2e-tests/test-applications/aws-lambda-layer-esm/tests/basic.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+import * as child_process from 'child_process';
+import { expect, test } from '@playwright/test';
+import { waitForTransaction } from '@sentry-internal/test-utils';
+
+test('Lambda layer SDK bundle sends events', async ({ request }) => {
+  const transactionEventPromise = waitForTransaction('aws-lambda-layer-esm', transactionEvent => {
+    return transactionEvent?.transaction === 'my-lambda';
+  });
+
+  // Waiting for 1s here because attaching the listener for events in `waitForTransaction` is not synchronous
+  // Since in this test, we don't start a browser via playwright, we don't have the usual delays (page.goto, etc)
+  // which are usually enough for us to never have noticed this race condition before.
+  // This is a workaround but probably sufficient as long as we only experience it in this test.
+  await new Promise<void>(resolve =>
+    setTimeout(() => {
+      resolve();
+    }, 1000),
+  );
+
+  child_process.execSync('pnpm start', {
+    stdio: 'ignore',
+  });
+
+  const transactionEvent = await transactionEventPromise;
+
+  // shows the SDK sent a transaction
+  expect(transactionEvent.transaction).toEqual('my-lambda'); // name should be the function name
+  expect(transactionEvent.contexts?.trace).toEqual({
+    data: {
+      'sentry.sample_rate': 1,
+      'sentry.source': 'custom',
+      'sentry.origin': 'auto.otel.aws-lambda',
+      'sentry.op': 'function.aws.lambda',
+      'cloud.account.id': '123453789012',
+      'faas.id': 'arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:123453789012:function:my-lambda',
+      'faas.coldstart': true,
+      'otel.kind': 'SERVER',
+    },
+    op: 'function.aws.lambda',
+    origin: 'auto.otel.aws-lambda',
+    span_id: expect.stringMatching(/[a-f0-9]{16}/),
+    status: 'ok',
+    trace_id: expect.stringMatching(/[a-f0-9]{32}/),
+  });
+
+  expect(transactionEvent.spans).toHaveLength(2);
+
+  // shows that the Otel Http instrumentation is working
+  expect(transactionEvent.spans).toContainEqual(
+    expect.objectContaining({
+      data: expect.objectContaining({
+        'sentry.op': 'http.client',
+        'sentry.origin': 'auto.http.otel.http',
+        url: 'http://example.com/',
+      }),
+      description: 'GET http://example.com/',
+      op: 'http.client',
+    }),
+  );
+
+  // shows that the manual span creation is working
+  expect(transactionEvent.spans).toContainEqual(
+    expect.objectContaining({
+      data: expect.objectContaining({
+        'sentry.op': 'test',
+        'sentry.origin': 'manual',
+      }),
+      description: 'manual-span',
+      op: 'test',
+    }),
+  );
+});
diff --git a/dev-packages/rollup-utils/bundleHelpers.mjs b/dev-packages/rollup-utils/bundleHelpers.mjs
index f80b0b7c2e50..1099cb6b6549 100644
--- a/dev-packages/rollup-utils/bundleHelpers.mjs
+++ b/dev-packages/rollup-utils/bundleHelpers.mjs
@@ -90,32 +90,6 @@ export function makeBaseBundleConfig(options) {
     plugins: [rrwebBuildPlugin, markAsBrowserBuildPlugin],
   };
 
-  // used by `@sentry/aws-serverless`, when creating the lambda layer
-  const awsLambdaBundleConfig = {
-    output: {
-      format: 'cjs',
-    },
-    plugins: [
-      jsonPlugin,
-      commonJSPlugin,
-      // Temporary fix for the lambda layer SDK bundle.
-      // This is necessary to apply to our lambda layer bundle because calling `new ImportInTheMiddle()` will throw an
-      // that `ImportInTheMiddle` is not a constructor. Instead we modify the code to call `new ImportInTheMiddle.default()`
-      // TODO: Remove this plugin once the weird import-in-the-middle exports are fixed, released and we use the respective
-      // version in our SDKs. See: https://github.com/getsentry/sentry-javascript/issues/12009#issuecomment-2126211967
-      {
-        name: 'aws-serverless-lambda-layer-fix',
-        transform: code => {
-          if (code.includes('ImportInTheMiddle')) {
-            return code.replaceAll(/new\s+(ImportInTheMiddle.*)\(/gm, 'new $1.default(');
-          }
-        },
-      },
-    ],
-    // Don't bundle any of Node's core modules
-    external: builtinModules,
-  };
-
   const workerBundleConfig = {
     output: {
       format: 'esm',
@@ -143,7 +117,6 @@ export function makeBaseBundleConfig(options) {
   const bundleTypeConfigMap = {
     standalone: standAloneBundleConfig,
     addon: addOnBundleConfig,
-    'aws-lambda': awsLambdaBundleConfig,
     'node-worker': workerBundleConfig,
   };
 
diff --git a/packages/aws-serverless/package.json b/packages/aws-serverless/package.json
index 0bca7574c42c..17433e6101e5 100644
--- a/packages/aws-serverless/package.json
+++ b/packages/aws-serverless/package.json
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
     "/build/loader-hook.mjs"
   ],
   "main": "build/npm/cjs/index.js",
+  "module": "build/npm/esm/index.js",
   "types": "build/npm/types/index.d.ts",
   "exports": {
     "./package.json": "./package.json",
@@ -73,10 +74,11 @@
     "@types/aws-lambda": "^8.10.62"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
-    "@types/node": "^18.19.1"
+    "@types/node": "^18.19.1",
+    "@vercel/nft": "^0.29.4"
   },
   "scripts": {
-    "build": "run-p build:transpile build:types build:bundle",
+    "build": "run-p build:transpile build:types",
     "build:bundle": "yarn build:layer",
     "build:layer": "yarn ts-node scripts/buildLambdaLayer.ts",
     "build:dev": "run-p build:transpile build:types",
diff --git a/packages/aws-serverless/rollup.aws.config.mjs b/packages/aws-serverless/rollup.aws.config.mjs
deleted file mode 100644
index d9f0720886ef..000000000000
--- a/packages/aws-serverless/rollup.aws.config.mjs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-import { makeBaseBundleConfig, makeBaseNPMConfig, makeBundleConfigVariants } from '@sentry-internal/rollup-utils';
-
-export default [
-  // The SDK
-  ...makeBundleConfigVariants(
-    makeBaseBundleConfig({
-      // this automatically sets it to be CJS
-      bundleType: 'aws-lambda',
-      entrypoints: ['src/index.ts'],
-      licenseTitle: '@sentry/aws-serverless',
-      outputFileBase: () => 'index',
-      packageSpecificConfig: {
-        output: {
-          dir: 'build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/build/npm/cjs',
-          sourcemap: false,
-        },
-      },
-    }),
-    // We only need one copy of the SDK, and we pick the minified one because there's a cap on how big a lambda function
-    // plus its dependencies can be, and we might as well take up as little of that space as is necessary. We'll rename
-    // it to be `index.js` in the build script, since it's standing in for the index file of the npm package.
-    { variants: ['.debug.min.js'] },
-  ),
-  makeBaseNPMConfig({
-    entrypoints: ['src/awslambda-auto.ts'],
-    packageSpecificConfig: {
-      // Normally `makeNPMConfigVariants` sets both of these values for us, but we don't actually want the ESM variant,
-      // and the directory structure is different than normal, so we have to do it ourselves.
-      output: {
-        format: 'cjs',
-        dir: 'build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/build/npm/cjs',
-        sourcemap: false,
-      },
-      // We only want `awslambda-auto.js`, not the modules that it imports, because they're all included in the bundle
-      // we generate above
-      external: ['./index'],
-    },
-  }),
-];
diff --git a/packages/aws-serverless/scripts/buildLambdaLayer.ts b/packages/aws-serverless/scripts/buildLambdaLayer.ts
index 52c3b50009c5..ad39948f5b0a 100644
--- a/packages/aws-serverless/scripts/buildLambdaLayer.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-serverless/scripts/buildLambdaLayer.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 /* eslint-disable no-console */
+import { nodeFileTrace } from '@vercel/nft';
 import * as childProcess from 'child_process';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
+import * as path from 'path';
 import { version } from '../package.json';
 
 /**
@@ -11,21 +13,20 @@ function run(cmd: string, options?: childProcess.ExecSyncOptions): string {
   return String(childProcess.execSync(cmd, { stdio: 'inherit', ...options }));
 }
 
+/**
+ * Build the AWS lambda layer by first installing the local package into `build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs`.
+ * Then, prune the node_modules directory to remove unused files by first getting all necessary files with
+ * `@vercel/nft` and then deleting all other files inside `node_modules`.
+ * Finally, create a zip file of the layer.
+ */
 async function buildLambdaLayer(): Promise<void> {
-  // Create the main SDK bundle
-  run('yarn rollup --config rollup.aws.config.mjs');
-
-  // We build a minified bundle, but it's standing in for the regular `index.js` file listed in `package.json`'s `main`
-  // property, so we have to rename it so it's findable.
-  fs.renameSync(
-    'build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/build/npm/cjs/index.debug.min.js',
-    'build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/build/npm/cjs/index.js',
-  );
+  console.log('Building Lambda layer.');
+  console.log('Installing local @sentry/aws-serverless into build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs.');
+  run('npm install . --prefix ./build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs --install-links --silent');
 
-  // We're creating a bundle for the SDK, but still using it in a Node context, so we need to copy in `package.json`,
-  // purely for its `main` property.
-  console.log('Copying `package.json` into lambda layer.');
-  fs.copyFileSync('package.json', 'build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/package.json');
+  await pruneNodeModules();
+  fs.rmSync('./build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/package.json', { force: true });
+  fs.rmSync('./build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/package-lock.json', { force: true });
 
   // The layer also includes `awslambda-auto.js`, a helper file which calls `Sentry.init()` and wraps the lambda
   // handler. It gets run when Node is launched inside the lambda, using the environment variable
@@ -61,3 +62,79 @@ function fsForceMkdirSync(path: string): void {
   fs.rmSync(path, { recursive: true, force: true });
   fs.mkdirSync(path);
 }
+
+async function pruneNodeModules(): Promise<void> {
+  const entrypoints = [
+    './build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/build/npm/esm/index.js',
+    './build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/build/npm/cjs/index.js',
+    './build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/build/npm/cjs/awslambda-auto.js',
+    './build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules/@sentry/aws-serverless/build/npm/esm/awslambda-auto.js',
+  ];
+
+  const { fileList } = await nodeFileTrace(entrypoints);
+
+  const allFiles = getAllFiles('./build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules');
+
+  const filesToDelete = allFiles.filter(file => !fileList.has(file));
+  console.log(`Removing ${filesToDelete.length} unused files from node_modules.`);
+
+  for (const file of filesToDelete) {
+    try {
+      fs.unlinkSync(file);
+    } catch {
+      console.error(`Error deleting ${file}`);
+    }
+  }
+
+  console.log('Cleaning up empty directories.');
+
+  removeEmptyDirs('./build/aws/dist-serverless/nodejs/node_modules');
+}
+
+function removeEmptyDirs(dir: string): void {
+  try {
+    const entries = fs.readdirSync(dir);
+
+    for (const entry of entries) {
+      const fullPath = path.join(dir, entry);
+      const stat = fs.statSync(fullPath);
+      if (stat.isDirectory()) {
+        removeEmptyDirs(fullPath);
+      }
+    }
+
+    const remainingEntries = fs.readdirSync(dir);
+
+    if (remainingEntries.length === 0) {
+      fs.rmdirSync(dir);
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // Directory might not exist or might not be empty, that's ok
+  }
+}
+
+function getAllFiles(dir: string): string[] {
+  const files: string[] = [];
+
+  function walkDirectory(currentPath: string): void {
+    try {
+      const entries = fs.readdirSync(currentPath, { withFileTypes: true });
+
+      for (const entry of entries) {
+        const fullPath = path.join(currentPath, entry.name);
+        const relativePath = path.relative(process.cwd(), fullPath);
+
+        if (entry.isDirectory()) {
+          walkDirectory(fullPath);
+        } else {
+          files.push(relativePath);
+        }
+      }
+    } catch {
+      console.log(`Skipping directory ${currentPath}`);
+    }
+  }
+
+  walkDirectory(dir);
+  return files;
+}
diff --git a/packages/aws-serverless/tsconfig.json b/packages/aws-serverless/tsconfig.json
index a2731860dfa0..fd68e15254db 100644
--- a/packages/aws-serverless/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/aws-serverless/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "extends": "../../tsconfig.json",
 
-  "include": ["src/**/*"],
+  "include": ["src/**/*", "scripts/**/*"],
 
   "compilerOptions": {
     // package-specific options
diff --git a/packages/aws-serverless/tsconfig.types.json b/packages/aws-serverless/tsconfig.types.json
index 4c51bd21e64b..03b57fcaa2a7 100644
--- a/packages/aws-serverless/tsconfig.types.json
+++ b/packages/aws-serverless/tsconfig.types.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
   // We don't ship this in the npm package (it exists purely for controlling what ends up in the AWS lambda layer), so
   // no need to build types for it
-  "exclude": ["src/index.awslambda.ts"],
+  "exclude": ["src/index.awslambda.ts", "scripts/**/*"],
 
   "compilerOptions": {
     "declaration": true,