diff --git a/manifests/job.pp b/manifests/job.pp
index 6568b82c3..ebc0252ef 100644
--- a/manifests/job.pp
+++ b/manifests/job.pp
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@
 #   config
 #     the content of the jenkins job config file (required)
 #
+#   source
+#     path to a puppet file() resource containing the Jenkins XML job description
+#     will override 'config' if set
+#
 #   jobname = $title
 #     the name of the jenkins job
 #
@@ -18,6 +22,7 @@
 #
 define jenkins::job(
   $config,
+  $source   = undef,
   $jobname  = $title,
   $enabled  = 1,
   $ensure   = 'present',
@@ -28,8 +33,16 @@
       jobname => $jobname,
     }
   } else {
+    if $source {
+      validate_string($source)
+      $realconfig = file($source)
+    }
+    else {
+      $realconfig = $config
+    }
+
     jenkins::job::present { $title:
-      config  => $config,
+      config  => $realconfig,
       jobname => $jobname,
       enabled => $enabled,
     }
diff --git a/spec/defines/jenkins_job_spec.rb b/spec/defines/jenkins_job_spec.rb
index f8d8bd6c9..eb8f994c2 100644
--- a/spec/defines/jenkins_job_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/defines/jenkins_job_spec.rb
@@ -93,4 +93,25 @@
       .with_content('<config>the dog said "woof"</config>') }
   end
 
+  describe 'with sourced config and blank regular config' do
+    let(:thesource) { File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../fixtures/testjob.xml') }
+    let(:params) {{ :ensure => 'present', :source => thesource, :config => '' }}
+    it { should contain_file('/tmp/myjob-config.xml')\
+      .with_content(/sourcedconfig/) }
+  end
+
+  describe 'with sourced config and regular config' do
+    quotes = "<xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'></xml>"
+    let(:thesource) { File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../fixtures/testjob.xml') }
+    let(:params) {{ :ensure => 'present', :source => thesource, :config => quotes }}
+    it { should contain_file('/tmp/myjob-config.xml')\
+      .with_content(/sourcedconfig/) }
+  end
+
+  describe 'with sourced config and no regular config' do
+    let(:thesource) { File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../fixtures/testjob.xml') }
+    let(:params) {{ :ensure => 'present', :source => thesource }}
+    it { should raise_error(Puppet::Error, /Must pass config/) }
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/spec/fixtures/testjob.xml b/spec/fixtures/testjob.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..38c635ed7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/fixtures/testjob.xml
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<config>sourcedconfig</config>