diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-4.x/4.8/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-4.x/4.8/default.nix
index 056ba301d843..66a58dba32e2 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-4.x/4.8/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-4.x/4.8/default.nix
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   patches =
     [ ./glib-2.32.patch
       ./libressl.patch
+      ./parallel-configure.patch
       (substituteAll {
         src = ./dlopen-absolute-paths.diff;
         cups = if cups != null then stdenv.lib.getLib cups else null;
@@ -117,6 +118,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       -demosdir $TMPDIR/share/doc/${name}/demos
       -datadir $out/share/${name}
       -translationdir $out/share/${name}/translations
+      --jobs=$NIX_BUILD_CORES
     "
     unset LD # Makefile uses gcc for linking; setting LD interferes
   '' + optionalString stdenv.cc.isClang ''
@@ -251,7 +253,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     homepage    = http://qt-project.org/;
     description = "A cross-platform application framework for C++";
     license     = licenses.lgpl21Plus; # or gpl3
-    maintainers = with maintainers; [ lovek323 phreedom sander ];
+    maintainers = with maintainers; [ orivej lovek323 phreedom sander ];
     platforms   = platforms.unix;
   };
 }
diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-4.x/4.8/parallel-configure.patch b/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-4.x/4.8/parallel-configure.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..b9b9d6d0a683
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/qt-4.x/4.8/parallel-configure.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+--- a/configure
++++ b/configure
+@@ -1087,2 +1087,3 @@ fi
+ #-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
++JOBS=
+ 
+@@ -2528,2 +2529,5 @@ while [ "$#" -gt 0 ]; do
+         ;;
++    jobs)
++        JOBS=-j$VAL
++        ;;
+     *)
+@@ -5072,3 +5076,3 @@ if true; then ###[ '!' -f "$outpath/bin/qmake" ];
+         if "$WHICH" makedepend >/dev/null 2>&1 && grep 'depend:' "$mkfile" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+-            (cd "$outpath/qmake" && "$MAKE" -f "$mkfile" depend) >/dev/null 2>&1
++            (cd "$outpath/qmake" && "$MAKE" $JOBS -f "$mkfile" depend) >/dev/null 2>&1
+            sed "s,^.*/\([^/]*.o\):,\1:,g" "$mkfile" >"$mkfile.tmp"
+@@ -5080,3 +5084,3 @@ if true; then ###[ '!' -f "$outpath/bin/qmake" ];
+     QMAKE_BUILD_ERROR=no
+-    (cd "$outpath/qmake"; "$MAKE") || QMAKE_BUILD_ERROR=yes
++    (cd "$outpath/qmake"; "$MAKE" $JOBS) || QMAKE_BUILD_ERROR=yes
+     [ '!' -z "$QCONFIG_H" ] && mv -f "$QCONFIG_H" "$QMAKE_QCONFIG_H" #move qmake's qconfig.h to qconfig.h.qmake