diff --git a/arrow-buffer/Cargo.toml b/arrow-buffer/Cargo.toml
index 39bdf82120b4..1d71d5c288a3 100644
--- a/arrow-buffer/Cargo.toml
+++ b/arrow-buffer/Cargo.toml
@@ -68,5 +68,9 @@ harness = false
 name = "mutable_buffer_extend"
 harness = false
 
+[[bench]]
+name = "null_buffer_builder"
+harness = false
+
 [lints]
 workspace = true
diff --git a/arrow-buffer/benches/null_buffer_builder.rs b/arrow-buffer/benches/null_buffer_builder.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..00d1ded9d147
--- /dev/null
+++ b/arrow-buffer/benches/null_buffer_builder.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+// Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+// or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+// distributed with this work for additional information
+// regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+// to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+// "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+// with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+// software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+// "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+// KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+// specific language governing permissions and limitations
+// under the License.
+
+use arrow_buffer::NullBufferBuilder;
+use criterion::{BenchmarkId, Criterion, Throughput, criterion_group, criterion_main};
+use std::hint;
+
+const WORDS: usize = 512;
+const LEN: usize = WORDS * 64;
+
+fn criterion_benchmark(c: &mut Criterion) {
+    let very_sparse_nulls = (0..WORDS)
+        .map(|i| if i % 32 == 0 { u64::MAX - 1 } else { u64::MAX })
+        .collect();
+    let sparse_nulls = (0..WORDS)
+        .map(|i| if i % 8 == 0 { u64::MAX - 1 } else { u64::MAX })
+        .collect();
+    let inputs = [
+        ("all_valid", vec![u64::MAX; WORDS]),
+        ("very_sparse_nulls", very_sparse_nulls),
+        ("sparse_nulls", sparse_nulls),
+        ("dense_nulls", vec![0x0000_0000_0000_FFFF; WORDS]),
+        ("alternating", vec![0xAAAA_AAAA_AAAA_AAAA; WORDS]),
+    ];
+
+    let mut group = c.benchmark_group("NullBufferBuilder append");
+    group.throughput(Throughput::Elements(LEN as u64));
+
+    for (name, words) in inputs {
+        group.bench_with_input(BenchmarkId::new("word", name), &words, |b, words| {
+            b.iter(|| {
+                let mut builder = NullBufferBuilder::new(LEN);
+                for &word in words {
+                    builder.append_word(hint::black_box(word), 64);
+                }
+                hint::black_box(builder.finish())
+            })
+        });
+    }
+
+    group.finish();
+}
+
+criterion_group!(benches, criterion_benchmark);
+criterion_main!(benches);
diff --git a/arrow-buffer/src/builder/null.rs b/arrow-buffer/src/builder/null.rs
index ee58ab591ec2..5d9331146a83 100644
--- a/arrow-buffer/src/builder/null.rs
+++ b/arrow-buffer/src/builder/null.rs
@@ -149,6 +149,27 @@ impl NullBufferBuilder {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Appends the low `count` bits from `word` as validity values.
+    ///
+    /// `word` is treated as a packed LSB-first bitmap, where set bits indicate
+    /// non-null values. Only the lowest `count` bits are appended; higher bits
+    /// are ignored.
+    ///
+    /// This does not materialize the null buffer when all appended bits are set.
+    ///
+    /// # Panics
+    ///
+    /// Panics if `count` is greater than 64.
+    #[inline]
+    pub fn append_word(&mut self, word: u64, count: usize) {
+        assert!(count <= 64, "count must be less than or equal to 64");
+        if word.trailing_ones() as usize >= count {
+            self.append_n_non_nulls(count);
+        } else {
+            self.materialize_if_needed().append_word(word, count)
+        }
+    }
+
     /// Sets a bit in the builder at `index`
     ///
     /// # Panics
@@ -339,6 +360,35 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(&[0b1011_u8], buf.validity());
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_append_word_all_valid() {
+        let mut builder = NullBufferBuilder::new(0);
+        builder.append_word(u64::MAX, 64);
+        builder.append_word(0b0111, 3);
+
+        assert_eq!(builder.len(), 67);
+        assert_eq!(builder.allocated_size(), 0);
+        assert!(builder.finish().is_none());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_append_word_mixed() {
+        let mut builder = NullBufferBuilder::new(0);
+        builder.append_n_non_nulls(3);
+        builder.append_word(0b1100_1010, 6);
+        builder.append_word(0b1111, 4);
+
+        let buffer = builder.finish().unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(&[0b0101_0111, 0b0001_1110], buffer.validity());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    #[should_panic(expected = "count must be less than or equal to 64")]
+    fn test_append_word_count_too_large() {
+        let mut builder = NullBufferBuilder::new(0);
+        builder.append_word(u64::MAX, 65);
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_null_buffer_builder_is_valid() {
         let mut builder = NullBufferBuilder::new(0);