diff --git a/bigframes/functions/_function_client.py b/bigframes/functions/_function_client.py
index 00d7244d59..8a591f6916 100644
--- a/bigframes/functions/_function_client.py
+++ b/bigframes/functions/_function_client.py
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ def provision_bq_managed_function(
         name,
         packages,
         is_row_processor,
+        bq_connection_id,
         *,
         capture_references=False,
     ):
@@ -273,12 +274,21 @@ def provision_bq_managed_function(
             udf_code = textwrap.dedent(inspect.getsource(func))
             udf_code = udf_code[udf_code.index("def") :]
 
+        with_connection_clause = (
+            (
+                f"WITH CONNECTION `{self._gcp_project_id}.{self._bq_location}.{self._bq_connection_id}`"
+            )
+            if bq_connection_id
+            else ""
+        )
+
         create_function_ddl = (
             textwrap.dedent(
                 f"""
                 CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION {persistent_func_id}({','.join(bq_function_args)})
                 RETURNS {bq_function_return_type}
                 LANGUAGE python
+                {with_connection_clause}
                 OPTIONS ({managed_function_options_str})
                 AS r'''
                 __UDF_PLACE_HOLDER__
diff --git a/bigframes/functions/_function_session.py b/bigframes/functions/_function_session.py
index b42ddefbee..4f4d306317 100644
--- a/bigframes/functions/_function_session.py
+++ b/bigframes/functions/_function_session.py
@@ -807,9 +807,13 @@ def udf(
 
         bq_location, _ = _utils.get_remote_function_locations(bigquery_client.location)
 
-        # A connection is required for BQ managed function.
-        bq_connection_id = self._resolve_bigquery_connection_id(
-            session, dataset_ref, bq_location, bigquery_connection
+        # A connection is optional for BQ managed function.
+        bq_connection_id = (
+            self._resolve_bigquery_connection_id(
+                session, dataset_ref, bq_location, bigquery_connection
+            )
+            if bigquery_connection
+            else None
         )
 
         bq_connection_manager = session.bqconnectionmanager
@@ -907,6 +911,7 @@ def wrapper(func):
                 name=name,
                 packages=packages,
                 is_row_processor=is_row_processor,
+                bq_connection_id=bq_connection_id,
             )
 
             # TODO(shobs): Find a better way to support udfs with param named
diff --git a/tests/system/conftest.py b/tests/system/conftest.py
index 398ee8a6b2..ce984f5ce4 100644
--- a/tests/system/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/system/conftest.py
@@ -185,8 +185,13 @@ def session_tokyo(tokyo_location: str) -> Generator[bigframes.Session, None, Non
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
-def bq_connection(bigquery_client: bigquery.Client) -> str:
-    return f"{bigquery_client.project}.{bigquery_client.location}.bigframes-rf-conn"
+def bq_connection_name() -> str:
+    return "bigframes-rf-conn"
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(scope="session")
+def bq_connection(bigquery_client: bigquery.Client, bq_connection_name: str) -> str:
+    return f"{bigquery_client.project}.{bigquery_client.location}.{bq_connection_name}"
 
 
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session", autouse=True)
diff --git a/tests/system/large/functions/test_managed_function.py b/tests/system/large/functions/test_managed_function.py
index eabafd96fb..831ab71be7 100644
--- a/tests/system/large/functions/test_managed_function.py
+++ b/tests/system/large/functions/test_managed_function.py
@@ -166,10 +166,7 @@ def featurize(x: int) -> list[float]:
         cleanup_function_assets(featurize, session.bqclient, ignore_failures=False)
 
 
-def test_managed_function_series_apply(
-    session,
-    scalars_dfs,
-):
+def test_managed_function_series_apply(session, scalars_dfs):
     try:
 
         @session.udf()
@@ -504,7 +501,10 @@ def test_managed_function_dataframe_apply_axis_1_array_output(session):
 
     try:
 
-        @session.udf(input_types=[int, float, str], output_type=list[str])
+        @session.udf(
+            input_types=[int, float, str],
+            output_type=list[str],
+        )
         def foo(x, y, z):
             return [str(x), str(y), z]
 
@@ -587,3 +587,41 @@ def foo(x, y, z):
     finally:
         # Clean up the gcp assets created for the managed function.
         cleanup_function_assets(foo, session.bqclient, ignore_failures=False)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "connection_fixture",
+    [
+        "bq_connection_name",
+        "bq_connection",
+    ],
+)
+def test_managed_function_with_connection(
+    session, scalars_dfs, request, connection_fixture
+):
+    try:
+        bigquery_connection = request.getfixturevalue(connection_fixture)
+
+        @session.udf(bigquery_connection=bigquery_connection)
+        def foo(x: int) -> int:
+            return x + 10
+
+        # Function should still work normally.
+        assert foo(-2) == 8
+
+        scalars_df, scalars_pandas_df = scalars_dfs
+
+        bf_result_col = scalars_df["int64_too"].apply(foo)
+        bf_result = (
+            scalars_df["int64_too"].to_frame().assign(result=bf_result_col).to_pandas()
+        )
+
+        pd_result_col = scalars_pandas_df["int64_too"].apply(foo)
+        pd_result = (
+            scalars_pandas_df["int64_too"].to_frame().assign(result=pd_result_col)
+        )
+
+        pandas.testing.assert_frame_equal(bf_result, pd_result, check_dtype=False)
+    finally:
+        # Clean up the gcp assets created for the managed function.
+        cleanup_function_assets(foo, session.bqclient, ignore_failures=False)