diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index cbf9beb7..ba9791fc 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ IMPROVEMENTS:
 
 BUG FIXES:
 * cli: Fix panic when calling status command with namespace wildcard [[GH-827](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad-pack/pull/854)]
+* pack: Preserve pack metadata injection for job templates with top-level HCL blocks such as `locals`
 * renderer: Fixed output template rendering to respect --parser-v1 flag [[GH-875](https://github.com/hashicorp/nomad-pack/pull/875)]
 
 ## 0.4.2 (March 16, 2026)
diff --git a/internal/runner/job/metadata.go b/internal/runner/job/metadata.go
index ef4c2b46..5c2ac66a 100644
--- a/internal/runner/job/metadata.go
+++ b/internal/runner/job/metadata.go
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ func (r *Runner) setHCLMeta(job string) string {
 	if diags.HasErrors() {
 		return job
 	}
-	content, diags := file.Body.Content(&hcl.BodySchema{
+	content, _, diags := file.Body.PartialContent(&hcl.BodySchema{
 		Blocks: []hcl.BlockHeaderSchema{
 			{Type: "job", LabelNames: []string{""}},
 		},
diff --git a/internal/runner/job/metadata_test.go b/internal/runner/job/metadata_test.go
index 4bab6834..4580cd2c 100644
--- a/internal/runner/job/metadata_test.go
+++ b/internal/runner/job/metadata_test.go
@@ -83,6 +83,28 @@ func TestDeployer_setHCLMeta(t *testing.T) {
     "pack.version"         = "123456"
     thing                  = "baz"
   }
+}`,
+		},
+		{
+			desc: "top-level locals are preserved while job meta is merged",
+			inputRunner: &Runner{
+				runnerCfg: defaultConfig,
+			},
+			inputJob: "locals {\n thing = \"baz\"\n}\n\njob \"foobar\" {\n meta {\n other = \"foobar\" \n}\n }",
+			expectedJob: `locals {
+  thing = "baz"
+}
+
+job "foobar" {
+  meta = {
+    other                  = "foobar"
+    "pack.deployment_name" = "foobar@123456"
+    "pack.job"             = "foobar"
+    "pack.name"            = "foobar"
+    "pack.path"            = "/opt/src/foobar"
+    "pack.registry"        = "default"
+    "pack.version"         = "123456"
+  }
 }`,
 		},
 		{