Aim To investigate the relationship between job crafting and work engagement among hospital nurses. Background Job crafting is a relatively advanced job redesign concept, and few studies have investigated it among nurses. Methods This is a cross‐sectional study. A total of 636 nurses were recruited from one hospital in Saudi Arabia. Of them, 608 (95.6%) completed self‐administered, online questionnaires. The questionnaire assessed participants’ socio‐demographic data, job crafting and work engagement. Structured equation modelling (SEM) was used to examine the association between job crafting and work engagement. Results Data from 549 nurses were analysed. Most of the participants (85.1%) were females, and their mean scores of job crafting and work engagement were 3.54 ± 0.5 and 4.77 ± 1.1, respectively. The SEM revealed that job crafting accounted for 57% of the variance of work engagement. Conclusions Job crafting is a significant determinant of nurses’ work engagement. Implications for nursing management Supporting staff nurses to employ job crafting behaviours would positively improve their work engagement. This may include, but is not limited to, helping nurses to bargain a significance in their labour, reforming the work pattern in a manner that lines up with organisational objectives and employing an innovative managerial style.