diff --git a/listener/src/test-utils/notification-fixture-builder.ts b/listener/src/test-utils/notification-fixture-builder.ts
index f5e7199a..bb5eb30c 100644
--- a/listener/src/test-utils/notification-fixture-builder.ts
+++ b/listener/src/test-utils/notification-fixture-builder.ts
@@ -358,6 +358,23 @@ export class StellarEventBuilder {
     return this;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Set the event value to an ScvMap containing a `payload_version` key,
+   * matching the shape of the Soroban `NotificationScheduled` event data.
+   *
+   * Events that pre-date versioning should use `withValue` / `withStringValue`
+   * directly; this helper is specifically for testing version-aware parsing.
+   */
+  withPayloadVersion(version: number): this {
+    this.event.value = xdr.ScVal.scvMap([
+      new xdr.ScMapEntry({
+        key: xdr.ScVal.scvSymbol('payload_version'),
+        val: xdr.ScVal.scvU32(version),
+      }),
+    ]);
+    return this;
+  }
+
   build(): StellarSDK.rpc.Api.EventResponse {
     return this.event as StellarSDK.rpc.Api.EventResponse;
   }
diff --git a/listener/src/utils/event-utils.test.ts b/listener/src/utils/event-utils.test.ts
index c8061549..2232748b 100644
--- a/listener/src/utils/event-utils.test.ts
+++ b/listener/src/utils/event-utils.test.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,12 @@ import {
   matchesEventFilter,
   validateEventPayload,
   validateRpcResponse,
+  parseEventVersion,
+  validateEventVersion,
+  CURRENT_EVENT_VERSION,
+  SUPPORTED_EVENT_VERSIONS,
 } from './event-utils';
+import { NotificationFixtureBuilder } from '../test-utils/notification-fixture-builder';
 
 function createValidEvent(overrides: Record<string, unknown> = {}) {
   return {
diff --git a/listener/src/utils/event-utils.ts b/listener/src/utils/event-utils.ts
index fc82a4da..08a8c76a 100644
--- a/listener/src/utils/event-utils.ts
+++ b/listener/src/utils/event-utils.ts
@@ -124,6 +124,137 @@ export function describeEventParseError(error: EventParseError): string {
   return error.field ? `${error.category}:${error.field}` : error.category;
 }
 
+/**
+ * The current event payload protocol version understood by this listener.
+ * Matches `CURRENT_NOTIFICATION_VERSION` in the Soroban contract.
+ */
+export const CURRENT_EVENT_VERSION = 1;
+
+/**
+ * All event payload versions this listener can process.
+ * Add a new entry here whenever the contract introduces a new schema version.
+ */
+export const SUPPORTED_EVENT_VERSIONS: ReadonlySet<number> = new Set([1]);
+
+export interface EventVersionParseResult {
+  /** Whether a version field was present and could be read. */
+  found: boolean;
+  /**
+   * The numeric version extracted from the payload.
+   * `undefined` when `found` is false (no version field present).
+   */
+  version: number | undefined;
+  /**
+   * Human-readable reason when the value could not be parsed as a valid
+   * version number (e.g. wrong XDR type, non-integer).
+   * Only set when `found` is true but the value is unusable.
+   */
+  parseError?: string;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Attempt to extract `payload_version` from a raw Soroban `ScVal`.
+ *
+ * The Soroban contract serialises versioned event data as either:
+ *   - An `ScvMap` containing a `payload_version` key (e.g. `NotificationScheduled`)
+ *   - A direct `ScvU32` / `ScvU64` integer (future single-field events)
+ *
+ * Events that pre-date versioning (no `payload_version` key) return
+ * `{ found: false, version: undefined }` so callers can apply a default
+ * without breaking existing integrations.
+ *
+ * @param value - Raw `ScVal` from `StellarSDK.rpc.Api.EventResponse.value`
+ */
+export function parseEventVersion(value: StellarSDK.xdr.ScVal): EventVersionParseResult {
+  if (value === undefined || value === null) {
+    return { found: false, version: undefined };
+  }
+
+  try {
+    const native = StellarSDK.scValToNative(value);
+
+    // Case 1: struct/map — look for a payload_version key
+    if (native !== null && typeof native === 'object' && !Array.isArray(native)) {
+      const record = native as Record<string, unknown>;
+      const raw = record['payload_version'];
+
+      if (raw === undefined || raw === null) {
+        // Map present but no payload_version key — pre-versioned event
+        return { found: false, version: undefined };
+      }
+
+      const ver = Number(raw);
+      if (!Number.isInteger(ver) || ver < 1) {
+        return {
+          found: true,
+          version: undefined,
+          parseError: `payload_version is not a positive integer: ${raw}`,
+        };
+      }
+
+      return { found: true, version: ver };
+    }
+
+    // Case 2: bare integer value (u32 / u64 / i128 all convert to number/bigint)
+    if (typeof native === 'number' || typeof native === 'bigint') {
+      const ver = Number(native);
+      if (!Number.isInteger(ver) || ver < 1) {
+        return {
+          found: true,
+          version: undefined,
+          parseError: `payload_version integer is not a positive integer: ${native}`,
+        };
+      }
+      return { found: true, version: ver };
+    }
+
+    // Any other type (string, array, boolean…) — not a version field
+    return { found: false, version: undefined };
+  } catch {
+    // scValToNative threw — XDR is malformed; treat as no version
+    return { found: false, version: undefined };
+  }
+}
+
+/**
+ * Validate that the version extracted by `parseEventVersion` is supported.
+ *
+ * Returns `{ valid: true }` for:
+ *   - Events with no version field (pre-versioning, treated as v1 for
+ *     backward compatibility)
+ *   - Events whose version is in `SUPPORTED_EVENT_VERSIONS`
+ *
+ * Returns `{ valid: false, reason }` for:
+ *   - Malformed version values (non-integer, negative)
+ *   - Versions greater than `CURRENT_EVENT_VERSION` (unknown future schema)
+ *   - Versions that were explicitly removed from `SUPPORTED_EVENT_VERSIONS`
+ */
+export function validateEventVersion(value: StellarSDK.xdr.ScVal): EventValidationResult {
+  const parsed = parseEventVersion(value);
+
+  // No version field — backward-compatible; accept as v1
+  if (!parsed.found) {
+    return { valid: true };
+  }
+
+  // Version field found but could not be parsed as a usable integer
+  if (parsed.version === undefined) {
+    return {
+      valid: false,
+      reason: `Unsupported event payload version: ${parsed.parseError}`,
+    };
+  }
+
+  if (!SUPPORTED_EVENT_VERSIONS.has(parsed.version)) {
+    return {
+      valid: false,
+      reason: `Unsupported event payload version ${parsed.version}; supported versions are [${[...SUPPORTED_EVENT_VERSIONS].join(', ')}]`,
+    };
+  }
+
+  return { valid: true };
+}
+
 export function validateRpcResponse(
   response: StellarSDK.rpc.Api.GetEventsResponse | null | undefined
 ): RpcResponseValidationResult {