diff --git a/api/rest.go b/api/rest.go
index 125cc24..8f50c8c 100644
--- a/api/rest.go
+++ b/api/rest.go
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/auth"
-	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/config"
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/graph"
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/graph/model"
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/log"
@@ -255,14 +254,11 @@ func (api *RestApi) startJob(rw http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	if config.GetClusterConfig(req.Cluster) == nil || config.GetPartition(req.Cluster, req.Partition) == nil {
-		handleError(fmt.Errorf("cluster or partition does not exist: %#v/%#v", req.Cluster, req.Partition), http.StatusBadRequest, rw)
-		return
+	if req.State == "" {
+		req.State = schema.JobStateRunning
 	}
-
-	// TODO: Do more such checks, be smarter with them.
-	if len(req.Resources) == 0 || len(req.User) == 0 || req.NumNodes == 0 {
-		handleError(errors.New("the fields 'resources', 'user' and 'numNodes' are required"), http.StatusBadRequest, rw)
+	if err := repository.SanityChecks(&req.BaseJob); err != nil {
+		handleError(err, http.StatusBadRequest, rw)
 		return
 	}
 
@@ -278,10 +274,6 @@ func (api *RestApi) startJob(rw http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	if req.State == "" {
-		req.State = schema.JobStateRunning
-	}
-
 	req.RawResources, err = json.Marshal(req.Resources)
 	if err != nil {
 		handleError(fmt.Errorf("basically impossible: %w", err), http.StatusBadRequest, rw)
diff --git a/init-db.go b/init-db.go
index 3c2595f..9319aae 100644
--- a/init-db.go
+++ b/init-db.go
@@ -218,6 +218,10 @@ func loadJob(tx *sqlx.Tx, stmt *sqlx.NamedStmt, tags map[string]int64, path stri
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if err := repository.SanityChecks(&job.BaseJob); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	res, err := stmt.Exec(job)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/repository/import.go b/repository/import.go
index ac0b293..5689278 100644
--- a/repository/import.go
+++ b/repository/import.go
@@ -4,12 +4,12 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"database/sql"
 	"encoding/json"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/config"
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/log"
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/metricdata"
 	"github.com/ClusterCockpit/cc-backend/schema"
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ func (r *JobRepository) HandleImportFlag(flag string) error {
 	for _, pair := range strings.Split(flag, ",") {
 		files := strings.Split(pair, ":")
 		if len(files) != 2 {
-			return errors.New("invalid import flag format")
+			return fmt.Errorf("invalid import flag format")
 		}
 
 		raw, err := os.ReadFile(files[0])
@@ -94,6 +94,10 @@ func (r *JobRepository) ImportJob(jobMeta *schema.JobMeta, jobData *schema.JobDa
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if err := SanityChecks(&job.BaseJob); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	res, err := r.DB.NamedExec(NamedJobInsert, job)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -114,6 +118,29 @@ func (r *JobRepository) ImportJob(jobMeta *schema.JobMeta, jobData *schema.JobDa
 	return nil
 }
 
+func SanityChecks(job *schema.BaseJob) error {
+	if c := config.GetClusterConfig(job.Cluster); c == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("no such cluster: %#v", job.Cluster)
+	}
+	if p := config.GetPartition(job.Cluster, job.Partition); p == nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("no such partition: %#v (on cluster %#v)", job.Partition, job.Cluster)
+	}
+	if !job.State.Valid() {
+		return fmt.Errorf("not a valid job state: %#v", job.State)
+	}
+	if len(job.Resources) == 0 || len(job.User) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("'resources' and 'user' should not be empty")
+	}
+	if job.NumAcc < 0 || job.NumHWThreads < 0 || job.NumNodes < 1 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("'numNodes', 'numAcc' or 'numHWThreads' invalid")
+	}
+	if len(job.Resources) != int(job.NumNodes) {
+		return fmt.Errorf("len(resources) does not equal numNodes (%d vs %d)", len(job.Resources), job.NumNodes)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 func loadJobStat(job *schema.JobMeta, metric string) float64 {
 	if stats, ok := job.Statistics[metric]; ok {
 		return stats.Avg