diff --git a/xyz-jobs/xyz-job-service/src/main/java/com/here/xyz/jobs/service/JobApi.java b/xyz-jobs/xyz-job-service/src/main/java/com/here/xyz/jobs/service/JobApi.java
index 326a0ba50..681e9bfdd 100644
--- a/xyz-jobs/xyz-job-service/src/main/java/com/here/xyz/jobs/service/JobApi.java
+++ b/xyz-jobs/xyz-job-service/src/main/java/com/here/xyz/jobs/service/JobApi.java
@@ -38,12 +38,14 @@
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.Job;
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.RuntimeStatus;
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.datasets.DatasetDescription;
+import com.here.xyz.jobs.steps.JobCompiler.CompilationError;
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.steps.inputs.Input;
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.steps.inputs.InputsFromJob;
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.steps.inputs.InputsFromS3;
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.steps.inputs.ModelBasedInput;
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.steps.inputs.UploadUrl;
 import com.here.xyz.jobs.steps.outputs.Output;
+import com.here.xyz.util.service.BaseHttpServerVerticle.ValidationException;
 import com.here.xyz.util.service.HttpException;
 import com.here.xyz.util.service.rest.Api;
 import io.vertx.core.Future;
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ protected void postJob(final RoutingContext context) throws HttpException {
     Job job = getJobFromBody(context);
     job.create().submit()
         .map(res -> job)
+        .recover(t -> Future.failedFuture(t instanceof CompilationError e ? new ValidationException(e.getMessage(), e) : t))
         .onSuccess(res -> sendResponse(context, CREATED.code(), res))
         .onFailure(err -> sendErrorResponse(context, err));
   }