diff --git a/internal/common/pulsarutils/dlq.go b/internal/common/pulsarutils/dlq.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b6514d879ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/common/pulsarutils/dlq.go
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+package pulsarutils
+
+import (
+	"github.com/apache/pulsar-client-go/pulsar"
+)
+
+// MessageIdsToStrings converts Pulsar message ids to their string representation,
+// suitable for embedding in JSON payloads or message properties.
+func MessageIdsToStrings(ids []pulsar.MessageID) []string {
+	out := make([]string, len(ids))
+	for i, id := range ids {
+		out[i] = id.String()
+	}
+	return out
+}
diff --git a/internal/common/pulsarutils/dlq_publisher.go b/internal/common/pulsarutils/dlq_publisher.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..37407e7d385
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/common/pulsarutils/dlq_publisher.go
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+package pulsarutils
+
+import (
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/apache/pulsar-client-go/pulsar"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+
+	"github.com/armadaproject/armada/internal/common/armadacontext"
+)
+
+// DeadLetterMetadata describes why a message ended up on the dead-letter topic.
+// It is recorded as Pulsar message properties alongside the serialized payload.
+type DeadLetterMetadata struct {
+	OriginalTopic string
+	Subscription  string
+	Attempts      int
+	LastError     string
+	MessageIDs    []string
+}
+
+func (m DeadLetterMetadata) properties() map[string]string {
+	return map[string]string{
+		"originalTopic": m.OriginalTopic,
+		"subscription":  m.Subscription,
+		"attempts":      strconv.Itoa(m.Attempts),
+		"lastError":     m.LastError,
+		"messageIds":    strings.Join(m.MessageIDs, ","),
+	}
+}
+
+// DeadLetterPublisher publishes poisoned message payloads to a dead-letter Pulsar topic.
+type DeadLetterPublisher struct {
+	producer    pulsar.Producer
+	sendTimeout time.Duration
+}
+
+func NewDeadLetterPublisher(
+	client pulsar.Client,
+	topic string,
+	compressionType pulsar.CompressionType,
+	compressionLevel pulsar.CompressionLevel,
+	sendTimeout time.Duration,
+) (*DeadLetterPublisher, error) {
+	producer, err := client.CreateProducer(pulsar.ProducerOptions{
+		Topic:              topic,
+		CompressionType:    compressionType,
+		CompressionLevel:   compressionLevel,
+		BatcherBuilderType: pulsar.KeyBasedBatchBuilder,
+		DisableBatching:    false,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, errors.WithStack(err)
+	}
+	return &DeadLetterPublisher{
+		producer:    producer,
+		sendTimeout: sendTimeout,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// Publish sends payload to the dead-letter topic with meta recorded as message properties.
+func (p *DeadLetterPublisher) Publish(ctx *armadacontext.Context, payload []byte, meta DeadLetterMetadata) error {
+	sendCtx, cancel := armadacontext.WithTimeout(ctx, p.sendTimeout)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
+	wg.Add(1)
+	var sendErr error
+	p.producer.SendAsync(sendCtx, &pulsar.ProducerMessage{
+		Payload:    payload,
+		Properties: meta.properties(),
+	}, func(_ pulsar.MessageID, _ *pulsar.ProducerMessage, err error) {
+		sendErr = err
+		wg.Done()
+	})
+	wg.Wait()
+	if sendErr != nil {
+		return errors.WithMessage(sendErr, "error sending message to dead-letter topic")
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (p *DeadLetterPublisher) Close() {
+	p.producer.Close()
+}
diff --git a/internal/common/pulsarutils/doc.go b/internal/common/pulsarutils/doc.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..22ac859ca29
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/common/pulsarutils/doc.go
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+// Package pulsarutils provides shared helpers for constructing and using
+// Pulsar clients, producers, and consumers.
+//
+// [NewPulsarClient] and [NewPulsarAdminClient] construct clients from
+// [config.PulsarConfig]. [PulsarPublisher] proto-marshals and publishes
+// [utils.ArmadaEvent] messages. [DeadLetterPublisher] publishes raw,
+// sink-serialized payloads (with originating-topic/subscription/attempt
+// metadata) to a dead-letter topic for messages an ingestion pipeline has
+// given up retrying; see [internal/common/ingest].
+package pulsarutils