diff --git a/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py b/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py
index b032665284..e0ca6f14ae 100644
--- a/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py
+++ b/google/cloud/bigquery/client.py
@@ -891,6 +891,12 @@ def set_iam_policy(
 
         return Policy.from_api_repr(response)
 
+    def set_default_query_job_config(
+        self,
+        default_query_job_config: QueryJobConfig
+    ) -> None:
+        self._default_query_job_config = copy.deepcopy(default_query_job_config)
+
     def test_iam_permissions(
         self,
         table: Union[Table, TableReference, TableListItem, str],
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_client.py b/tests/unit/test_client.py
index 22f7286db3..5f898e8e58 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_client.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_client.py
@@ -1760,6 +1760,19 @@ def test_test_iam_permissions_w_invalid_table(self):
         with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
             client.test_iam_permissions(table_resource_string, PERMISSIONS)
 
+    def test_set_default_query_job_config(self):
+        from google.cloud.bigquery import QueryJobConfig
+
+        creds = _make_credentials()
+        http = object()
+        client = self._make_one(project=self.PROJECT, credentials=creds, _http=http)
+        self.assertIsNone(client._default_query_job_config)
+
+        job_config = QueryJobConfig()
+        job_config.dry_run = True
+        client.set_default_query_job_config(job_config)
+        self.assertIsInstance(client._default_query_job_config, QueryJobConfig)
+
     def test_update_dataset_w_invalid_field(self):
         from google.cloud.bigquery.dataset import Dataset