diff --git a/flow/activities/flowable.go b/flow/activities/flowable.go
index 901ab50166..844c60c088 100644
--- a/flow/activities/flowable.go
+++ b/flow/activities/flowable.go
@@ -448,6 +448,11 @@ func (a *FlowableActivity) ReplicateQRepPartitions(ctx context.Context,
 	partitions *protos.QRepPartitionBatch,
 	runUUID string,
 ) error {
+	shutdown := heartbeatRoutine(ctx, func() string {
+		return "replicating partitions for job"
+	})
+	defer shutdown()
+
 	ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, shared.FlowNameKey, config.FlowJobName)
 	logger := log.With(activity.GetLogger(ctx), slog.String(string(shared.FlowNameKey), config.FlowJobName))
 	err := monitoring.UpdateStartTimeForQRepRun(ctx, a.CatalogPool, runUUID)