diff --git a/.changelog/18366.txt b/.changelog/18366.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..841d49a5a75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/18366.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:improvement
+jobspec: add `node_pool` as a valid field
+```
diff --git a/api/jobs.go b/api/jobs.go
index 702680cc957..297e595c97e 100644
--- a/api/jobs.go
+++ b/api/jobs.go
@@ -966,7 +966,7 @@ type Job struct {
 	Priority         *int                    `hcl:"priority,optional"`
 	AllAtOnce        *bool                   `mapstructure:"all_at_once" hcl:"all_at_once,optional"`
 	Datacenters      []string                `hcl:"datacenters,optional"`
-	NodePool         *string                 `hcl:"node_pool,optional"`
+	NodePool         *string                 `mapstructure:"node_pool" hcl:"node_pool,optional"`
 	Constraints      []*Constraint           `hcl:"constraint,block"`
 	Affinities       []*Affinity             `hcl:"affinity,block"`
 	TaskGroups       []*TaskGroup            `hcl:"group,block"`
diff --git a/jobspec/parse_job.go b/jobspec/parse_job.go
index 3ce28308756..9cedf3309bc 100644
--- a/jobspec/parse_job.go
+++ b/jobspec/parse_job.go
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ func parseJob(result *api.Job, list *ast.ObjectList) error {
 		"affinity",
 		"spread",
 		"datacenters",
+		"node_pool",
 		"group",
 		"id",
 		"meta",
diff --git a/jobspec/parse_test.go b/jobspec/parse_test.go
index 2f41a7d5a09..b44777a588b 100644
--- a/jobspec/parse_test.go
+++ b/jobspec/parse_test.go
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ func TestParse(t *testing.T) {
 				Datacenters: []string{"us2", "eu1"},
 				Region:      stringToPtr("fooregion"),
 				Namespace:   stringToPtr("foonamespace"),
+				NodePool:    stringToPtr("dev"),
 				ConsulToken: stringToPtr("abc"),
 				VaultToken:  stringToPtr("foo"),
 
diff --git a/jobspec/test-fixtures/basic.hcl b/jobspec/test-fixtures/basic.hcl
index aba8ea342b2..1176a9d9629 100644
--- a/jobspec/test-fixtures/basic.hcl
+++ b/jobspec/test-fixtures/basic.hcl
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 job "binstore-storagelocker" {
   region       = "fooregion"
   namespace    = "foonamespace"
+  node_pool    = "dev"
   type         = "batch"
   priority     = 52
   all_at_once  = true