diff --git a/languageservice/src/validate.test.ts b/languageservice/src/validate.test.ts
index cac98deb..6571b04a 100644
--- a/languageservice/src/validate.test.ts
+++ b/languageservice/src/validate.test.ts
@@ -11,7 +11,9 @@ beforeEach(() => {
 
 describe("validation", () => {
   it("valid workflow", async () => {
-    const result = await validate(createDocument("wf.yaml", "on: push\njobs:\n  build:\n    runs-on: ubuntu-latest"));
+    const result = await validate(
+      createDocument("wf.yaml", "on: push\njobs:\n  build:\n    runs-on: ubuntu-latest\n    steps:\n    - run: echo")
+    );
 
     expect(result.length).toBe(0);
   });
@@ -144,7 +146,9 @@ jobs:
 jobs:
   build:
     runs-on:
-    - ubuntu-latest`
+    - ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - run: echo hello`
       ),
       {valueProviderConfig: defaultValueProviders}
     );
@@ -174,7 +178,9 @@ jobs:
     - cron: '0 0 * *'
 jobs:
   build:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest`
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - run: echo hello`
       ),
       {valueProviderConfig: defaultValueProviders}
     );
diff --git a/workflow-parser/src/model/convert.test.ts b/workflow-parser/src/model/convert.test.ts
index 3d92f4a7..064c89c4 100644
--- a/workflow-parser/src/model/convert.test.ts
+++ b/workflow-parser/src/model/convert.test.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ describe("convertWorkflowTemplate", () => {
         content: `on: push
 jobs:
   build:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest`
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps: []`
       },
       nullTrace
     );
@@ -55,9 +56,11 @@ jobs:
   build:
     if: \${{ true }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps: []
   deploy:
     if: true
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest`
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps: []`
       },
       nullTrace
     );
@@ -105,7 +108,8 @@ jobs:
 jobs:
   build:
     needs: # comment to preserve whitespace in test
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest`
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps: []`
       },
       nullTrace
     );
@@ -150,11 +154,17 @@ jobs:
   job1:
     needs: [unknown-job, job3]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - run: echo job1
   job2:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - run: echo job2
   job3:
     needs: job1
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest`
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - run: echo job3`
       },
       nullTrace
     );
@@ -174,7 +184,7 @@ jobs:
         },
         {
           Message:
-            "wf.yaml (Line: 9, Col: 12): Job 'job3' depends on job 'job1' which creates a cycle in the dependency graph."
+            "wf.yaml (Line: 13, Col: 12): Job 'job3' depends on job 'job1' which creates a cycle in the dependency graph."
         }
       ],
       events: {
@@ -190,7 +200,16 @@ jobs:
           name: "job1",
           needs: ["unknown-job", "job3"],
           "runs-on": "ubuntu-latest",
-          steps: [],
+          steps: [
+            {
+              id: "__run",
+              if: {
+                expr: "success()",
+                type: 3
+              },
+              run: "echo job1"
+            }
+          ],
           type: "job"
         },
         {
@@ -201,7 +220,16 @@ jobs:
           },
           name: "job2",
           "runs-on": "ubuntu-latest",
-          steps: [],
+          steps: [
+            {
+              id: "__run",
+              if: {
+                expr: "success()",
+                type: 3
+              },
+              run: "echo job2"
+            }
+          ],
           type: "job"
         },
         {
@@ -213,7 +241,16 @@ jobs:
           name: "job3",
           needs: ["job1"],
           "runs-on": "ubuntu-latest",
-          steps: [],
+          steps: [
+            {
+              id: "__run",
+              if: {
+                expr: "success()",
+                type: 3
+              },
+              run: "echo job3"
+            }
+          ],
           type: "job"
         }
       ]
@@ -316,6 +353,49 @@ jobs:
     });
   });
 
+  it("converts workflow with one job without steps", async () => {
+    const result = parseWorkflow(
+      {
+        name: "wf.yaml",
+        content: `on: push
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest`
+      },
+      nullTrace
+    );
+
+    const template = await convertWorkflowTemplate(result.context, result.value!, undefined, {
+      errorPolicy: ErrorPolicy.TryConversion
+    });
+
+    expect(serializeTemplate(template)).toEqual({
+      errors: [
+        {
+          Message: "wf.yaml (Line: 4, Col: 5): Required property is missing: steps"
+        }
+      ],
+      events: {
+        push: {}
+      },
+      jobs: [
+        {
+          id: "build",
+          if: {
+            expr: "success()",
+            type: 3
+          },
+          name: "build",
+          needs: undefined,
+          outputs: undefined,
+          "runs-on": "ubuntu-latest",
+          steps: [],
+          type: "job"
+        }
+      ]
+    });
+  });
+
   // Extra coverage since workflow_call components are not all covered by x-lang parsers
   it("converts workflow_call on", async () => {
     const result = parseWorkflow(
@@ -336,7 +416,8 @@ jobs:
       secret2:
 jobs:
   build:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest`
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps: []`
       },
       nullTrace
     );
diff --git a/workflow-parser/src/workflow-v1.0.json b/workflow-parser/src/workflow-v1.0.json
index 12a38e70..0a9a6ed3 100644
--- a/workflow-parser/src/workflow-v1.0.json
+++ b/workflow-parser/src/workflow-v1.0.json
@@ -1779,7 +1779,10 @@
           "concurrency": "job-concurrency",
           "outputs": "job-outputs",
           "defaults": "job-defaults",
-          "steps": "steps",
+          "steps": {
+            "type": "steps",
+            "required": true
+          },
           "snapshot": "snapshot"
         }
       }
diff --git a/workflow-parser/testdata/reader/errors-job-runs-on-and-no-steps.yml b/workflow-parser/testdata/reader/errors-job-runs-on-and-no-steps.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..31c11ab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/workflow-parser/testdata/reader/errors-job-runs-on-and-no-steps.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+include-source: false # Drop file/line/col from output
+---
+on: push
+jobs:
+  build:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+---
+{
+  "errors": [
+    {
+      "Message": ".github/workflows/errors-job-runs-on-and-no-steps.yml (Line: 4, Col: 5): Required property is missing: steps"
+    }
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/workflow-parser/testdata/reader/errors-job-runs-on-and-uses.yml b/workflow-parser/testdata/reader/errors-job-runs-on-and-uses.yml
index ecbace95..898e981e 100644
--- a/workflow-parser/testdata/reader/errors-job-runs-on-and-uses.yml
+++ b/workflow-parser/testdata/reader/errors-job-runs-on-and-uses.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ jobs:
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     uses: ./.github/workflows/foo.yml
+    steps:
+      - run: echo hello
 ---
 {
   "errors": [