diff --git a/client.go b/client.go
index fecc8a33..95264159 100644
--- a/client.go
+++ b/client.go
@@ -542,6 +542,35 @@ func NewClient[TTx any](driver riverdriver.Driver[TTx], config *Config) (*Client
 	return client, nil
 }
 
+// pgIdentifierRegexp matches all valid PostgreSQL identifier names:
+var pgIdentifierRegexp = regexp.MustCompile("^[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*$")
+
+// Listen subscribes to a notification topic. The notifyFunc will be called for
+// any notification that is received on the topic. The returned subscription must be
+// closed with Unlisten when no longer needed.
+//
+// The provided notifyFunc should be fast and not block to avoid dropping other
+// notifications and potentially causing internal issues within River.
+//
+// It returns an error if the specified topic is not a valid Postgres
+// identifier. Panics if notifyFunc is nil.
+func (c *Client[TTx]) Listen(topic string, notifyFunc NotifyFunc) (*ListenSubscription, error) {
+	// Validate that the topic is a valid Postgres identifier:
+	if valid := pgIdentifierRegexp.MatchString(topic); !valid {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid topic name %q")
+	}
+	if notifyFunc == nil {
+		panic("notifyFunc is required")
+	}
+
+	wrapperFunc := func(topic notifier.NotificationTopic, payload string) {
+		notifyFunc(string(topic), payload)
+	}
+	return &ListenSubscription{
+		Subscription: c.notifier.Listen(notifier.NotificationTopic(topic), wrapperFunc),
+	}, nil
+}
+
 // Start starts the client's job fetching and working loops. Once this is called,
 // the client will run in a background goroutine until stopped. All jobs are
 // run with a context inheriting from the provided context, but with a timeout
@@ -618,6 +647,11 @@ func (c *Client[TTx]) Start(ctx context.Context) error {
 
 		c.wg.Add(2)
 		go func() {
+			// TODO(bgentry): is this the wrong context? Should the notifier actually
+			// use the `workCtx` so that it doesn't get shut down before existing jobs
+			// have finished / had their contexts cancelled? This would preserve the
+			// ability to cancel an individual job's context during the initial
+			// shutdown phase.
 			c.notifier.Run(fetchNewWorkCtx)
 			c.wg.Done()
 		}()
diff --git a/listen_subscription.go b/listen_subscription.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e7a8c1f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/listen_subscription.go
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+package river
+
+import "github.com/riverqueue/river/internal/notifier"
+
+// ListenSubscription is a subscription returned from the Client's Listen method.
+type ListenSubscription struct {
+	*notifier.Subscription
+}
+
+// Unlisten stops listening to this particular subscription.
+func (sub *ListenSubscription) Unlisten() {
+	sub.Subscription.Unlisten()
+}
+
+// NotifyFunc is a function that will be called any time a Postgres notification
+// payload is receiverd on the specified topic. It must not block, or messages
+// will be dropped (including those important to River's internal operation).
+type NotifyFunc func(topic string, payload string)