diff --git a/src/frontend/apiserver/models/jobs.go b/src/frontend/apiserver/models/jobs.go
index 8a5a969c..c4c1b0b6 100644
--- a/src/frontend/apiserver/models/jobs.go
+++ b/src/frontend/apiserver/models/jobs.go
@@ -613,6 +613,7 @@ type JobAdditionalFields struct {
 	Pids              []int     `json:"pids"`  // List of process IDs associated with the job
 	Pgids             []int     `json:"pgids"` // List of process group IDs associated with the job
 	InteractiveJobURL string    `json:"interactive_job_url"`
+	PendingReason     Jsonb     `json:"pending_reason"` // PEND reason (scheduler-set, JSONB object)
 }
 
 type JobSubmitRequest struct {
diff --git a/src/frontend/xcecli/common/output/page_print_jobs.go b/src/frontend/xcecli/common/output/page_print_jobs.go
index 487936f2..41589472 100644
--- a/src/frontend/xcecli/common/output/page_print_jobs.go
+++ b/src/frontend/xcecli/common/output/page_print_jobs.go
@@ -320,9 +320,9 @@ func printJobsVerboseOutput(jobs *models.JobsResponse, filter []string) {
 
 		// (3) print the pending reason for jobs waiting to be dispatched
 		if job.JobStatus == "PEND" || job.JobStatus == "PSUSP" {
-			if job.PendingReason != "" {
+			if string(job.PendingReason) != "" {
 				fmt.Fprintf(w, " PENDING REASONS:\n")
-				fmt.Fprintf(w, " %s\n", job.PendingReason)
+				fmt.Fprintf(w, " %s\n", string(job.PendingReason))
 			}
 		}
 
diff --git a/src/frontend/xcecli/models/jobs.go b/src/frontend/xcecli/models/jobs.go
index 321f7b17..912f3e34 100755
--- a/src/frontend/xcecli/models/jobs.go
+++ b/src/frontend/xcecli/models/jobs.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package models
 import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -162,7 +163,7 @@ type QueryJob struct {
 	ExceptList         string        `json:"except_list"`
 	RLimits64          []int64       `json:"rlimits64"`
 	SubEnvVars         string        `json:"sub_env_vars"`
-	PendingReason      string        `json:"pending_reason"`
+	PendingReason      PendingReason `json:"pending_reason"`
 	JobStartInfo       string        `json:"job_start_info"`
 	JobExecInfo        string        `json:"job_exec_info"`
 	CoreLimit          float64       `json:"core_limit"`
@@ -523,6 +524,96 @@ func (e *ExitStatusValue) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// pendingReasonJSON mirrors the apiserver's object-valued pending_reason
+// (rawPendReason in backend/convert_pure.go). xcecli displays it as text, so
+// this type is not exposed directly — it exists only to format the object.
+type pendingReasonJSON struct {
+	MainReason     int    `json:"main_reason"`
+	MainReasonName string `json:"main_reason_name"`
+	HostReasons    []struct {
+		Host       string `json:"host"`
+		Reason     int    `json:"reason"`
+		ReasonName string `json:"reason_name"`
+	} `json:"host_reasons"`
+	ResReasons []struct {
+		Resource   string `json:"resource"`
+		Host       string `json:"host"`
+		Reason     int    `json:"reason"`
+		ReasonName string `json:"reason_name"`
+	} `json:"res_reasons"`
+}
+
+// formatPendingReason renders the object-valued pending_reason as human text
+// (LSF bjobs -p style), matching the schedulerclient/mcp-server summary.
+func formatPendingReason(pr *pendingReasonJSON) string {
+	if pr == nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	var lines []string
+	if pr.MainReasonName != "" {
+		lines = append(lines, pr.MainReasonName)
+	} else if pr.MainReason != 0 {
+		lines = append(lines, fmt.Sprintf("reason code %d", pr.MainReason))
+	}
+	for _, h := range pr.HostReasons {
+		lines = append(lines, fmt.Sprintf("host %s: %s", h.Host, h.ReasonName))
+	}
+	for _, r := range pr.ResReasons {
+		hostPart := ""
+		if r.Host != "" {
+			hostPart = " on " + r.Host
+		}
+		lines = append(lines, fmt.Sprintf("resource %s%s: %s", r.Resource, hostPart,
+			r.ReasonName))
+	}
+	return strings.Join(lines, "; ")
+}
+
+// UnmarshalJSON accepts pending_reason in any of the forms the API has served:
+//   - null / empty            → ""
+//   - a plain JSON string     → as-is (older API format)
+//   - an object               → {main_reason, main_reason_name, host_reasons,
+//                                res_reasons} (current API format) — rendered
+//                                as human-readable text
+// A bare object previously broke the `string` field with "cannot unmarshal
+// object into string" — see xcecli job list.
+func (p *PendingReason) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
+	s := string(data)
+	if s == "null" || s == "" {
+		*p = ""
+		return nil
+	}
+	if len(s) >= 2 && s[0] == '"' {
+		var str string
+		if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &str); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		*p = PendingReason(str)
+		return nil
+	}
+	// object form (or anything else) — try to format it
+	var pr pendingReasonJSON
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &pr); err != nil {
+		// not an object we can parse — fall back to the raw bytes
+		*p = PendingReason(s)
+		return nil
+	}
+	// A JSON object with none of the pending-reason fields set is not a real
+	// PEND reason (e.g. {"foo":1}) — surface the raw bytes rather than an
+	// empty string that would silently hide the actual value.
+	if pr.MainReason == 0 && pr.MainReasonName == "" && len(pr.HostReasons) == 0 &&
+		len(pr.ResReasons) == 0 {
+		*p = PendingReason(s)
+		return nil
+	}
+	*p = PendingReason(formatPendingReason(&pr))
+	return nil
+}
+
+// PendingReason is a string that additionally tolerates the object-valued
+// pending_reason returned by the current apiserver.
+type PendingReason string
+
 // JobOutputResponse represents the response from the job output API.
 type JobOutputResponse struct {
 	Code int           `json:"code"`
diff --git a/src/frontend/xcecli/models/jobs_test.go b/src/frontend/xcecli/models/jobs_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e68d0b30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/frontend/xcecli/models/jobs_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+package models
+
+import (
+	"encoding/json"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestPendingReasonUnmarshalNull(t *testing.T) {
+	var p PendingReason
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte("null"), &p); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("null: unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if p != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("null: want empty string, got %q", string(p))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPendingReasonUnmarshalEmptyString(t *testing.T) {
+	var p PendingReason
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`""`), &p); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("empty string: unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if p != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("empty string: want empty, got %q", string(p))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPendingReasonUnmarshalPlainString(t *testing.T) {
+	var p PendingReason
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`"host t1 unavailable"`), &p); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("plain string: unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if p != "host t1 unavailable" {
+		t.Fatalf("plain string: want passthrough, got %q", string(p))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPendingReasonUnmarshalObject(t *testing.T) {
+	obj := `{
+		"main_reason": 3,
+		"main_reason_name": "match_fail",
+		"host_reasons": [
+			{"host": "t1", "reason": 3, "reason_name": "match_fail"},
+			{"host": "t2", "reason": 3, "reason_name": "match_fail"}
+		],
+		"res_reasons": [
+			{"resource": "mem", "host": "t1", "reason": 9, "reason_name": "host_unavail"}
+		]
+	}`
+	var p PendingReason
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(obj), &p); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("object: unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	s := string(p)
+	if s != "match_fail; host t1: match_fail; host t2: match_fail; resource mem on t1: host_unavail" {
+		t.Fatalf("object: unexpected formatted text %q", s)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPendingReasonUnmarshalWithinQueryJob(t *testing.T) {
+	// Full QueryJob row as the apiserver returns it (OrderMap "Data" wrapper).
+	row := `{
+		"Data": {
+			"job_id": 123,
+			"job_name": "test",
+			"job_status": "PEND",
+			"pending_reason": {
+				"main_reason": 8,
+				"main_reason_name": "time_window",
+				"host_reasons": [],
+				"res_reasons": []
+			}
+		}
+	}`
+	var j QueryJob
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(row), &j); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("QueryJob unmarshal: unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if string(j.PendingReason) != "time_window" {
+		t.Fatalf("QueryJob: want formatted pending_reason %q, got %q",
+			"time_window", string(j.PendingReason))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPendingReasonUnmarshalUnknownObject(t *testing.T) {
+	// An object we don't recognise should not fail the whole job list — it
+	// falls back to the raw bytes rather than erroring.
+	var p PendingReason
+	if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(`{"foo": 1}`), &p); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unknown object: unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if string(p) != `{"foo": 1}` {
+		t.Fatalf("unknown object: want raw fallback, got %q", string(p))
+	}
+}