diff --git a/src/v/iceberg/compatibility.cc b/src/v/iceberg/compatibility.cc
index 7df169c5ffc8c..e1e3b3c8e399b 100644
--- a/src/v/iceberg/compatibility.cc
+++ b/src/v/iceberg/compatibility.cc
@@ -422,4 +422,18 @@ schema_transform_result validate_schema_transform(struct_type& dest) {
     });
 }
 
+schema_evolution_result
+evolve_schema(const struct_type& source, const struct_type& dest) {
+    auto dest_copy = dest.copy();
+    auto transform_res = annotate_schema_transform(source, dest_copy);
+    if (transform_res.has_error()) {
+        return transform_res.error();
+    }
+    if (auto validate_res = validate_schema_transform(dest_copy);
+        validate_res.has_error()) {
+        return validate_res.error();
+    }
+    return std::move(dest_copy);
+}
+
 } // namespace iceberg
diff --git a/src/v/iceberg/compatibility.h b/src/v/iceberg/compatibility.h
index a6f786721e7a7..acfa327b4739f 100644
--- a/src/v/iceberg/compatibility.h
+++ b/src/v/iceberg/compatibility.h
@@ -89,4 +89,31 @@ annotate_schema_transform(const struct_type& source, const struct_type& dest);
  */
 schema_transform_result validate_schema_transform(struct_type& dest);
 
+/**
+ * evolve_schema - Prepares dest for insertion into table metadata.
+ *
+ * Take a copy of dest, annotate it with source metadata,
+ * apply the annotations, and return the copy (or an error).
+ *
+ * Preconditions:
+ *   - Both input structs are un-annotated. That is, none of their
+ *     fields have the optional ::meta filled in.
+ *
+ * Postconditions:
+ *   - All fields in dest are either assigned a unique ID carried over
+ *     from source, or are marked as "new" (i.e. needing a unique ID
+ *     assigned before insertion into metadata)
+ *   - Each field in source is annotated with metadata indicating whether
+ *     it has a compatible counterpart in dest.
+ *
+ * @param source - The source (i.e original) schema
+ * @param dest   - the proposed schema (probably extracted from some incoming
+ *                 record)
+ *
+ * @return A copy of the dest schema, with column IDs mapped from source
+ *         or field metadata indicating a new column, as approprate.
+ */
+schema_evolution_result
+evolve_schema(const struct_type& source, const struct_type& dest);
+
 } // namespace iceberg
diff --git a/src/v/iceberg/tests/compatibility_test.cc b/src/v/iceberg/tests/compatibility_test.cc
index 31833875b53a5..045f99d0beba2 100644
--- a/src/v/iceberg/tests/compatibility_test.cc
+++ b/src/v/iceberg/tests/compatibility_test.cc
@@ -1032,3 +1032,40 @@ TEST_P(ValidateAnnotationTest, ValidateCatchesTypeErrors) {
 
     EXPECT_FALSE(res.has_error());
 }
+
+struct StructEvoCompatibilityTest : public StructCompatibilityTestBase {};
+
+INSTANTIATE_TEST_SUITE_P(
+  StructEvolutionTest,
+  StructEvoCompatibilityTest,
+  ::testing::ValuesIn(valid_plus_errs(invalid_cases)));
+
+TEST_P(StructEvoCompatibilityTest, CanEvolveStructsAndDetectErrors) {
+    // generate a schema per the test case
+    auto original_schema_struct = generator();
+
+    // manually update a copy of the schema in some way, also specified by the
+    // test case
+    auto type = update(original_schema_struct);
+
+    // try to evolve the original schema into the new and update the latter
+    // accordingly. check against expectations (both success and expected
+    // qualities of the result)
+    auto evolve_res = evolve_schema(original_schema_struct, type);
+    ASSERT_EQ(evolve_res.has_error(), err().has_error())
+      << (evolve_res.has_error()
+            ? fmt::format("Unexpected error: {}", evolve_res.error())
+            : fmt::format(
+                "Expected {} got {}", err().error(), evolve_res.value()));
+    if (evolve_res.has_error()) {
+        ASSERT_EQ(evolve_res.error(), err().error());
+        return;
+    }
+
+    // Full validation step for struct evolution result
+    ASSERT_TRUE(validator(original_schema_struct, evolve_res.value()))
+      << fmt::format(
+           "Original: {}\nEvolved: {}",
+           original_schema_struct,
+           evolve_res.value());
+}