diff --git a/src/db/repositories.ts b/src/db/repositories.ts
index ef4dd93a82..722f8da4e9 100644
--- a/src/db/repositories.ts
+++ b/src/db/repositories.ts
@@ -2238,6 +2238,25 @@ export async function countRecentDeadLetters(env: Env, sinceIso: string): Promis
   return row.count;
 }
 
+/** Observability for the DLQ dashboard (#1208): recent dead letters grouped by job type, using the jobType stored
+ *  in each `github_app.dlq_dead_lettered` audit event's metadata. Missing/blank jobType falls back to `unknown`,
+ *  and the returned object's keys are sorted deterministically for stable consumers/tests. */
+export async function countRecentDeadLettersByType(env: Env, sinceIso: string): Promise<Record<string, number>> {
+  const db = getDb(env.DB);
+  const jobTypeExpr =
+    sql<string>`coalesce(nullif(trim(cast(json_extract(${auditEvents.metadataJson}, '$.jobType') as text)), ''), 'unknown')`;
+  const rows = await db
+    .select({
+      jobType: jobTypeExpr,
+      count: sql<number>`count(*)`,
+    })
+    .from(auditEvents)
+    .where(and(eq(auditEvents.eventType, "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered"), gte(auditEvents.createdAt, sinceIso)))
+    .groupBy(jobTypeExpr)
+    .orderBy(asc(jobTypeExpr));
+  return Object.fromEntries(rows.map((row) => [row.jobType, Number(row.count)]));
+}
+
 export type PrVisibilitySkipAuditEvent = {
   repoFullName: string;
   pullNumber: number;
diff --git a/test/unit/db-parsers.test.ts b/test/unit/db-parsers.test.ts
index 58d729c88f..4ff5bb26e3 100644
--- a/test/unit/db-parsers.test.ts
+++ b/test/unit/db-parsers.test.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 import {
   claimRegateFanoutSlot,
   countRecentDeadLetters,
+  countRecentDeadLettersByType,
   countRecentAuditEventsForActorAndTarget,
   getLatestScorePreview,
   getRepoAuthorPullRequestHistory,
@@ -373,6 +374,109 @@ describe("database row parser hardening", () => {
     expect(await countRecentDeadLetters(env, "2026-06-24T13:00:00.000Z")).toBe(0); // none after the cutoff → count(*) returns 0
   });
 
+  it("countRecentDeadLettersByType groups recent dead letters by job type in deterministic key order (#1208)", async () => {
+    const env = createTestEnv();
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "dlq:github-webhook:a",
+      outcome: "error",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T12:00:00.000Z",
+      metadata: { jobType: "github-webhook" },
+    });
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "dlq:backfill-repo-segment:b",
+      outcome: "error",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T10:00:00.000Z",
+      metadata: { jobType: "backfill-repo-segment" },
+    });
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "dlq:github-webhook:c",
+      outcome: "error",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T14:00:00.000Z",
+      metadata: { jobType: "github-webhook" },
+    });
+
+    const counts = await countRecentDeadLettersByType(env, "2026-06-24T09:00:00.000Z");
+    expect(counts).toEqual({
+      "backfill-repo-segment": 1,
+      "github-webhook": 2,
+    });
+    expect(Object.keys(counts)).toEqual(["backfill-repo-segment", "github-webhook"]);
+  });
+
+  it("countRecentDeadLettersByType returns a single grouped key when only one job type is present", async () => {
+    const env = createTestEnv();
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "dlq:refresh-registry:a",
+      outcome: "error",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T10:00:00.000Z",
+      metadata: { jobType: "refresh-registry" },
+    });
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "dlq:refresh-registry:b",
+      outcome: "error",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T11:00:00.000Z",
+      metadata: { jobType: "refresh-registry" },
+    });
+
+    expect(await countRecentDeadLettersByType(env, "2026-06-24T09:00:00.000Z")).toEqual({
+      "refresh-registry": 2,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("countRecentDeadLettersByType returns an empty object when no recent dead letters exist", async () => {
+    const env = createTestEnv();
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "dlq:github-webhook:stale",
+      outcome: "error",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T08:59:59.000Z",
+      metadata: { jobType: "github-webhook" },
+    });
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "agent.sweep.regate",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "owner/repo",
+      outcome: "completed",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T12:00:00.000Z",
+    });
+
+    expect(await countRecentDeadLettersByType(env, "2026-06-24T09:00:00.000Z")).toEqual({});
+  });
+
+  it("countRecentDeadLettersByType falls back missing or blank job types to unknown", async () => {
+    const env = createTestEnv();
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "dlq:unknown:a",
+      outcome: "error",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T10:00:00.000Z",
+    });
+    await recordAuditEvent(env, {
+      eventType: "github_app.dlq_dead_lettered",
+      actor: "gittensory",
+      targetKey: "dlq:unknown:b",
+      outcome: "error",
+      createdAt: "2026-06-24T11:00:00.000Z",
+      metadata: { jobType: "   " },
+    });
+
+    expect(await countRecentDeadLettersByType(env, "2026-06-24T09:00:00.000Z")).toEqual({
+      unknown: 2,
+    });
+  });
+
   it("countRecentAuditEventsForActorAndTarget counts events scoped to ONE actor+eventType+targetKey since a cutoff (#2463)", async () => {
     const env = createTestEnv();
     await recordAuditEvent(env, { eventType: "github_app.review_nag_ping", actor: "chatty", targetKey: "owner/repo#1", outcome: "completed", createdAt: "2026-06-24T10:00:00.000Z" });