diff --git a/railties/CHANGELOG.md b/railties/CHANGELOG.md
index 78a94f7c28..e5f9e37c33 100644
--- a/railties/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/railties/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+*   Allow loading seeds without ActiveJob.
+
+    Fixes #35782
+
+    *Jeremy Weathers*
+
 *   `null: false` is set in the migrations by default for column pointed by
     `belongs_to` / `references` association generated by model generator.
 
diff --git a/railties/lib/rails/engine.rb b/railties/lib/rails/engine.rb
index eb2f0e8fca..06b4019fc7 100644
--- a/railties/lib/rails/engine.rb
+++ b/railties/lib/rails/engine.rb
@@ -552,7 +552,7 @@ module Rails
       seed_file = paths["db/seeds.rb"].existent.first
       return unless seed_file
 
-      if config.active_job.queue_adapter == :async
+      if config.try(:active_job)&.queue_adapter == :async
         with_inline_jobs { load(seed_file) }
       else
         load(seed_file)
diff --git a/railties/test/railties/engine_test.rb b/railties/test/railties/engine_test.rb
index fe5c62c07d..8ce68dbcfa 100644
--- a/railties/test/railties/engine_test.rb
+++ b/railties/test/railties/engine_test.rb
@@ -904,6 +904,32 @@ YAML
       assert_instance_of ActiveJob::QueueAdapters::DelayedJobAdapter, ActiveJob::Base.queue_adapter
     end
 
+    test "seed data can be loaded when ActiveJob is not present" do
+      @plugin.write "db/seeds.rb", <<-RUBY
+        Bukkits::Engine.config.bukkits_seeds_loaded = true
+      RUBY
+
+      app_file "db/seeds.rb", <<-RUBY
+        Rails.application.config.app_seeds_loaded = true
+      RUBY
+
+      boot_rails
+
+      # In a real app, config.active_job would be undefined when
+      # NOT requiring rails/all AND NOT requiring active_job/railtie
+      # that doesn't work as expected in this test environment, so:
+      undefine_config_option(:active_job)
+      assert_raise(NoMethodError) { Rails.application.config.active_job }
+
+      assert_raise(NoMethodError) { Rails.application.config.app_seeds_loaded }
+      assert_raise(NoMethodError) { Bukkits::Engine.config.bukkits_seeds_loaded }
+
+      Rails.application.load_seed
+      assert Rails.application.config.app_seeds_loaded
+      Bukkits::Engine.load_seed
+      assert Bukkits::Engine.config.bukkits_seeds_loaded
+    end
+
     test "skips nonexistent seed data" do
       FileUtils.rm "#{app_path}/db/seeds.rb"
       boot_rails
@@ -1523,6 +1549,10 @@ YAML
       Rails.application
     end
 
+    def undefine_config_option(name)
+      Rails.application.config.class.class_variable_get(:@@options).delete(name)
+    end
+
     # Restrict frameworks to load in order to avoid engine frameworks affect tests.
     def restrict_frameworks
       remove_from_config("require 'rails/all'")