diff --git a/src/apscheduler/datastores/sqlalchemy.py b/src/apscheduler/datastores/sqlalchemy.py
index 91070220..7ea36690 100644
--- a/src/apscheduler/datastores/sqlalchemy.py
+++ b/src/apscheduler/datastores/sqlalchemy.py
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
     false,
     or_,
     select,
+    text,
 )
 from sqlalchemy.engine import URL, Dialect, Result
 from sqlalchemy.exc import (
@@ -231,6 +232,13 @@ async def _begin_transaction(
 
             yield conn
 
+    async def _create_schema(self, conn: Connection | AsyncConnection) -> None:
+        if not self.schema:
+            return
+
+        t = text(f"CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS {self.schema};")
+        await self._execute(conn, t)
+
     async def _create_metadata(self, conn: Connection | AsyncConnection) -> None:
         if isinstance(conn, AsyncConnection):
             await conn.run_sync(self._metadata.create_all)
@@ -389,6 +397,7 @@ async def start(
         async for attempt in self._retry():
             with attempt:
                 async with self._begin_transaction() as conn:
+                    await self._create_schema(conn)
                     if self.start_from_scratch:
                         for table in self._metadata.sorted_tables:
                             await self._execute(conn, DropTable(table, if_exists=True))