diff --git a/Data/JobTrackerContext.cs b/Data/JobTrackerContext.cs
index 6067b28..b7c7f07 100644
--- a/Data/JobTrackerContext.cs
+++ b/Data/JobTrackerContext.cs
@@ -55,6 +55,20 @@ namespace JobTrackerApi.Data
         modelBuilder.Entity<JobApplication>()
             .HasIndex(j => j.OwnerUserId);
 
+        // Owner-prefixed composite indexes for the tenant-scoped hot paths. Every
+        // JobApplication query is scoped by the OwnerUserId global filter first, then
+        // filtered by IsDeleted (list/board/stats/analytics) or FollowUpAt (reminders).
+        // Status is intentionally excluded from the index because Pomelo maps the
+        // unbounded string column to longtext, which MariaDB cannot index without a
+        // prefix length. The actual index DDL is applied idempotently in
+        // StartupInitializationExtensions (this repo provisions schema via that
+        // reconciler, not via the EF ModelSnapshot, which is stale).
+        modelBuilder.Entity<JobApplication>()
+            .HasIndex(j => new { j.OwnerUserId, j.IsDeleted });
+
+        modelBuilder.Entity<JobApplication>()
+            .HasIndex(j => new { j.OwnerUserId, j.FollowUpAt });
+
         modelBuilder.Entity<Company>()
             .HasIndex(c => c.OwnerUserId);
 
diff --git a/JobTrackerApi/Services/StartupInitializationExtensions.cs b/JobTrackerApi/Services/StartupInitializationExtensions.cs
index fb76114..cd2b190 100644
--- a/JobTrackerApi/Services/StartupInitializationExtensions.cs
+++ b/JobTrackerApi/Services/StartupInitializationExtensions.cs
@@ -499,6 +499,16 @@ public static class StartupInitializationExtensions
                 EnsureColumn(conn, "Attachments", "Purpose", "ALTER TABLE Attachments ADD COLUMN Purpose TEXT NULL;");
                 EnsureColumn(conn, "Attachments", "UseForAi", "ALTER TABLE Attachments ADD COLUMN UseForAi INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 1;");
 
+                // Hot-path composite indexes for tenant-scoped list/board/stats/analytics
+                // (OwnerUserId + IsDeleted) and reminders (OwnerUserId + FollowUpAt). Guarded
+                // on table existence: on a brand-new DB the table is created by Migrate()
+                // below, so the index is picked up on the next start.
+                if (HasTable(conn, "JobApplications"))
+                {
+                    Exec(conn, """CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS "IX_JobApplications_OwnerUserId_IsDeleted" ON "JobApplications" ("OwnerUserId", "IsDeleted");""");
+                    Exec(conn, """CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS "IX_JobApplications_OwnerUserId_FollowUpAt" ON "JobApplications" ("OwnerUserId", "FollowUpAt");""");
+                }
+
                 // Ensure data folder exists before creating/opening SQLite files.
                 Directory.CreateDirectory(paths.DataRoot);
             }
@@ -819,6 +829,22 @@ public static class StartupInitializationExtensions
                         cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
                     }
 
+                    // Hot-path composite indexes for tenant-scoped list/board/stats/analytics
+                    // (OwnerUserId + IsDeleted) and reminders (OwnerUserId + FollowUpAt).
+                    if (!MySqlIndexExists(conn, "JobApplications", "IX_JobApplications_OwnerUserId_IsDeleted"))
+                    {
+                        using var cmd = conn.CreateCommand();
+                        cmd.CommandText = "CREATE INDEX `IX_JobApplications_OwnerUserId_IsDeleted` ON `JobApplications` (`OwnerUserId`, `IsDeleted`);";
+                        cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
+                    }
+
+                    if (!MySqlIndexExists(conn, "JobApplications", "IX_JobApplications_OwnerUserId_FollowUpAt"))
+                    {
+                        using var cmd = conn.CreateCommand();
+                        cmd.CommandText = "CREATE INDEX `IX_JobApplications_OwnerUserId_FollowUpAt` ON `JobApplications` (`OwnerUserId`, `FollowUpAt`);";
+                        cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
+                    }
+
                     if (!MySqlIndexExists(conn, "CvUploadArtifacts", "IX_CvUploadArtifacts_OwnerUserId_UploadedAtUtc"))
                     {
                         using var cmd = conn.CreateCommand();