diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 63d11fe7..278d9c5a 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -122,8 +122,10 @@ exportMethods(dbClearResult)
 exportMethods(dbColumnInfo)
 exportMethods(dbCommit)
 exportMethods(dbConnect)
+exportMethods(dbCreateTable)
 exportMethods(dbDataType)
 exportMethods(dbDisconnect)
+exportMethods(dbExecute)
 exportMethods(dbExistsTable)
 exportMethods(dbFetch)
 exportMethods(dbGetInfo)
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 4afeafd1..ab35398c 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 # bigrquery (development version)
 
-* Now supports `dbAppendTable()` (#539) and `dbCreateTable()` (#483).
+* Now supports `dbAppendTable()` (#539), `dbCreateTable()` (#483),
+  and `dbExecute` (#502).
 
 * `dbWriteTable()` now correct uses the `billing` value set in the 
   connection (#486).
diff --git a/R/dbi-connection.R b/R/dbi-connection.R
index 334983d9..1dc5dcf6 100644
--- a/R/dbi-connection.R
+++ b/R/dbi-connection.R
@@ -77,6 +77,26 @@ setMethod(
     BigQueryResult(conn, statement, ...)
   })
 
+
+#' @rdname DBI
+#' @inheritParams DBI::dbSendQuery
+#' @export
+setMethod("dbExecute", c("BigQueryConnection", "character"), function(conn, statement, ...) {
+  ds <- if (!is.null(conn@dataset)) as_bq_dataset(conn)
+
+  job <- bq_perform_query(statement,
+    billing = conn@billing,
+    default_dataset = ds,
+    quiet = conn@quiet,
+    ...
+  )
+  bq_job_wait(job, quiet = conn@quiet)
+
+  meta <- bq_job_meta(job, "statistics(query(numDmlAffectedRows))")
+  as.numeric(meta$statistics$query$numDmlAffectedRows %||% 0)
+})
+
+
 #' @rdname DBI
 #' @inheritParams DBI::dbQuoteString
 #' @export
diff --git a/man/DBI.Rd b/man/DBI.Rd
index 74584468..dbbbe79e 100644
--- a/man/DBI.Rd
+++ b/man/DBI.Rd
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 \alias{dbIsValid,BigQueryConnection-method}
 \alias{dbDisconnect,BigQueryConnection-method}
 \alias{dbSendQuery,BigQueryConnection,character-method}
+\alias{dbExecute,BigQueryConnection,character-method}
 \alias{dbQuoteString,BigQueryConnection,character-method}
 \alias{dbQuoteString,BigQueryConnection,SQL-method}
 \alias{dbQuoteIdentifier,BigQueryConnection,character-method}
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@
 \alias{dbWriteTable,BigQueryConnection,Id,data.frame-method}
 \alias{dbAppendTable,BigQueryConnection,character,data.frame-method}
 \alias{dbAppendTable,BigQueryConnection,Id,data.frame-method}
+\alias{dbCreateTable,BigQueryConnection-method}
 \alias{dbReadTable,BigQueryConnection,character-method}
 \alias{dbReadTable,BigQueryConnection,Id-method}
 \alias{dbListTables,BigQueryConnection-method}
@@ -69,6 +71,8 @@
 
 \S4method{dbSendQuery}{BigQueryConnection,character}(conn, statement, ...)
 
+\S4method{dbExecute}{BigQueryConnection,character}(conn, statement, ...)
+
 \S4method{dbQuoteString}{BigQueryConnection,character}(conn, x, ...)
 
 \S4method{dbQuoteString}{BigQueryConnection,SQL}(conn, x, ...)
@@ -109,6 +113,10 @@
 
 \S4method{dbAppendTable}{BigQueryConnection,Id,data.frame}(conn, name, value, ..., row.names = NULL)
 
+\S4method{dbCreateTable}{BigQueryConnection}(conn, name, fields, ..., row.names = NULL, temporary = FALSE)
+
+\S4method{dbCreateTable}{BigQueryConnection}(conn, name, fields, ..., row.names = NULL, temporary = FALSE)
+
 \S4method{dbReadTable}{BigQueryConnection,character}(conn, name, ...)
 
 \S4method{dbReadTable}{BigQueryConnection,Id}(conn, name, ...)
@@ -200,6 +208,15 @@ will be whatever the R identifier \code{"row.names"} maps to the DBMS (see
 \code{\link[DBI:make.db.names]{DBI::make.db.names()}}). If \code{NA} will add rows names if
 they are characters, otherwise will ignore.}
 
+\item{fields}{Either a character vector or a data frame.
+
+A named character vector: Names are column names, values are types.
+Names are escaped with \code{\link[DBI:dbQuoteIdentifier]{dbQuoteIdentifier()}}.
+Field types are unescaped.
+
+A data frame: field types are generated using
+\code{\link[DBI:dbDataType]{dbDataType()}}.}
+
 \item{res}{An object inheriting from \linkS4class{DBIResult}.}
 
 \item{n}{maximum number of records to retrieve per fetch. Use \code{n = -1}
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-dbi-connection.R b/tests/testthat/test-dbi-connection.R
index 91adc4d9..296403aa 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-dbi-connection.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-dbi-connection.R
@@ -70,6 +70,18 @@ test_that("can roundtrip a data frame", {
   expect_equal(ncol(df), 11)
 })
 
+test_that("can execute a query", {
+  tb <- bq_test_table()
+  con <- DBI::dbConnect(bq_dataset(tb$project, tb$dataset))
+
+  DBI::dbWriteTable(con, tb$table, data.frame(x = 1:4))
+  out <- dbExecute(con, glue("UPDATE {tb$table} SET x = x + 1 WHERE true"))
+  expect_equal(out, 4)
+
+  out <- dbExecute(con, glue("DELETE {tb$table} WHERE x <= 3"))
+  expect_equal(out, 2)
+})
+
 test_that("can use DBI::Id()", {
   ds <- bq_test_dataset()
   con <- DBI::dbConnect(ds)