diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f1b452ae..871d09b4 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ pydist: build
 
 # RELEASE HELPERS
 
+# Set PART=[major, minor, patch] as param to make bump.
+# This will create a release candidate. (i.e. 0.16.1 -> 0.16.2-rc.0 for a patch bump)
+.PHONY: bump-version
+bump-version:
+	bumpversion --config-file .bumpversion.cfg $(PART)
+
 # Create new version to commit to main
 .PHONY: create-release-candidate
 create-release-candidate: dev-env bump-version clean-lite gen-package-lock