diff --git a/.changelog/20049.txt b/.changelog/20049.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2f04b6b0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/20049.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+cli: Fixed a bug where the `nomad job restart` command could crash if the job type was not present in a response from the server
+```
diff --git a/command/job_restart.go b/command/job_restart.go
index f7e1d3db5..102cd9874 100644
--- a/command/job_restart.go
+++ b/command/job_restart.go
@@ -965,7 +965,7 @@ func (c *JobRestartCommand) stopAlloc(alloc AllocationListStubWithJob) error {
 
 	// Allocations for system jobs do not get replaced by the scheduler after
 	// being stopped, so an eval is needed to trigger the reconciler.
-	if *alloc.Job.Type == api.JobTypeSystem {
+	if alloc.isSystemJob() {
 		opts := api.EvalOptions{
 			ForceReschedule: true,
 		}
@@ -1241,3 +1241,9 @@ func (a *AllocationListStubWithJob) IsRunning() bool {
 	return a.ClientStatus == api.AllocClientStatusRunning ||
 		a.DesiredStatus == api.AllocDesiredStatusRun
 }
+
+// isSystemJob returns true if allocation's job type
+// is "system", false otherwise
+func (a *AllocationListStubWithJob) isSystemJob() bool {
+	return a.Job != nil && a.Job.Type != nil && *a.Job.Type == api.JobTypeSystem
+}