diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6d734eb3..38a85e0e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,14 +7,12 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+⚠️ **Breaking API change:** `rivermigrate.Migrator.Validate` and `rivermigrate.Migrator.ValidateTx` now take a `*rivermigrate.ValidateOpts` parameter. Pass `nil` to preserve previous behavior. We normally endeavor not to make any breaking API changes, but this one will keep the API in a much nicer state, and is on an ancillary function that most installations won't be using. [PR #1259](https://github.com/riverqueue/river/pull/1259)
+
 ### Added
 
 - Added `MetadataSet` to stage job metadata updates from worker middleware, `HookWorkBegin`, workers, or `HookWorkEnd`, with changes persisted when the job is completed. [PR #1269](https://github.com/riverqueue/river/pull/1269)
 
-### Fixed
-
-⚠️ **Breaking API change:** `rivermigrate.Migrator.Validate` and `rivermigrate.Migrator.ValidateTx` now take a `*rivermigrate.ValidateOpts` parameter. Pass `nil` to preserve previous behavior. We normally endeavor not to make any breaking API changes, but this one will keep the API in a much nicer state, and is on an ancillary function that most installations won't be using. [PR #1259](https://github.com/riverqueue/river/pull/1259)
-
 ### Changed
 
 - Added `rivermigrate.ValidateOpts.TargetVersion` so validation can check migrations up to a specific target version, matching the target-version behavior available on `Migrate` and `MigrateTx`. Notably, this is a breaking API change as the validate functions previously didn't take any options. [PR #1259](https://github.com/riverqueue/river/pull/1259)
diff --git a/internal/jobcompleter/job_completer.go b/internal/jobcompleter/job_completer.go
index 37a4d399..823394c4 100644
--- a/internal/jobcompleter/job_completer.go
+++ b/internal/jobcompleter/job_completer.go
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import (
 	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 
 	"github.com/riverqueue/river/internal/jobstats"
+	"github.com/riverqueue/river/internal/rivercommon"
 	"github.com/riverqueue/river/riverdriver"
 	"github.com/riverqueue/river/rivershared/baseservice"
 	"github.com/riverqueue/river/rivershared/riverpilot"
@@ -578,11 +579,9 @@ func withRetries[T any](logCtx context.Context, baseService *baseservice.BaseSer
 	)
 
 	for attempt := 1; attempt <= numRetries; attempt++ {
-		const timeout = 10 * time.Second
-
 		// I've found that we want at least ten seconds for a large batch,
 		// although it usually doesn't need that long.
-		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(uncancelledCtx, timeout)
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(uncancelledCtx, rivercommon.HotOperationTimeout)
 		defer cancel()
 
 		retVal, err := retryFunc(ctx)
@@ -603,7 +602,7 @@ func withRetries[T any](logCtx context.Context, baseService *baseservice.BaseSer
 				slog.Int("attempt", attempt),
 				slog.String("err", err.Error()),
 				slog.String("sleep_duration", sleepDuration.String()),
-				slog.String("timeout", timeout.String()),
+				slog.String("timeout", rivercommon.HotOperationTimeout.String()),
 			)
 			if !disableSleep {
 				serviceutil.CancellableSleep(logCtx, sleepDuration)
diff --git a/internal/rivercommon/river_common.go b/internal/rivercommon/river_common.go
index 986583ed..4f769b39 100644
--- a/internal/rivercommon/river_common.go
+++ b/internal/rivercommon/river_common.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package rivercommon
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"regexp"
+	"time"
 )
 
 // These constants are made available in rivercommon so that they're accessible
@@ -17,6 +18,16 @@ const (
 	QueueDefault       = "default"
 )
 
+// HotOperationTimeout attempts to standardize timeouts for some "hot"
+// operations like locking available jobs or completing finished jobs. It's
+// somewhat questionable whether it makes sense to share timing on these
+// queries, but for the time being it makes more sense than each part of the
+// code randomly choosing its own timing.
+//
+// We probably want to have another look at this in the not-too-distant future
+// to make sure we can't do anything a bit smarter when it comes to timeouts.
+const HotOperationTimeout = 10 * time.Second
+
 const (
 	// MetadataKeyPeriodicJobID is a metadata key inserted with a periodic job
 	// when a configured periodic job has its ID property set. This lets
diff --git a/rivershared/riverpilot/standard_pilot.go b/rivershared/riverpilot/standard_pilot.go
index 45e2ff2b..fb6e7d80 100644
--- a/rivershared/riverpilot/standard_pilot.go
+++ b/rivershared/riverpilot/standard_pilot.go
@@ -3,15 +3,13 @@ package riverpilot
 import (
 	"context"
 	"sync/atomic"
-	"time"
 
+	"github.com/riverqueue/river/internal/rivercommon"
 	"github.com/riverqueue/river/riverdriver"
 	"github.com/riverqueue/river/rivershared/baseservice"
 	"github.com/riverqueue/river/rivertype"
 )
 
-const standardPilotJobGetAvailableTimeoutDefault = 10 * time.Second
-
 type StandardPilot struct {
 	seq atomic.Int64
 }
@@ -23,7 +21,7 @@ func (p *StandardPilot) JobGetAvailable(ctx context.Context, exec riverdriver.Ex
 		return nil, nil
 	}
 
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeoutCause(ctx, standardPilotJobGetAvailableTimeoutDefault, context.DeadlineExceeded)
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(ctx, rivercommon.HotOperationTimeout)
 	defer cancel()
 
 	return exec.JobGetAvailable(ctx, params)