The quality of leadership provided by school principals is an important factor in determining the effectiveness and performance of teachers in secondary schools. Principals are responsible for providing instructional direction, motivating teachers, coordinating school activities, supervising instruction, supporting professional development and creating a positive organizational climate. However, concerns about teachers’ punctuality, lesson preparation, classroom delivery, assessment practices, commitment and participation in school activities continue to generate questions about the extent to which principals’ leadership roles are related to teachers’ job performance. This study assessed the relationship between principals’ leadership role and teachers’ job performance in public secondary schools in North Central Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. A correlational survey research design was adopted. The population comprised principals and teachers in public senior secondary schools in North Central Nigeria. A sample size of 3,800 respondents was selected through a multi-stage sampling procedure involving stratified, proportionate and simple random sampling techniques. Data were collected using a researcher- developed instrument titled Principals’ Leadership Role and Teachers’ Job Performance Questionnaire (PLRTJPQ). The instrument yielded a Content Validity Index of 0.91, while a Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.89 was obtained after pilot testing. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was used to test the hypotheses at the 0.05 level of significance. The illustrative findings indicated that instructional leadership role and transformational leadership role were significantly and positively related to teachers’ job performance. The regression model showed that the two dimensions of principals’ leadership role jointly explained a substantial proportion of the variation in teachers’ job performance. The study concluded that effective principal leadership is important for improving teachers’ commitment, instructional effectiveness and overall job performance in public secondary schools in North Central Nigeria. The study recommended, among others, that Ministries of Education and relevant educational agencies should strengthen leadership development programmes for principals, particularly in instructional supervision, teacher motivation, communication, professional support and participatory decision-making.