diff --git a/changelog.d/4339.feature b/changelog.d/4339.feature
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cecff97b80c06166d374c8e73014746a6664b4ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/4339.feature
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Add systemd-python to the optional dependencies to enable logging to the systemd journal. Install with `pip install matrix-synapse[systemd]`.
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile-dhvirtualenv b/docker/Dockerfile-dhvirtualenv
index 224c92352d0d6ac5d7e6440716c3a4ed532a6592..9c4c9a5d801c4d25b003dbfb03c7ecfb04688427 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile-dhvirtualenv
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile-dhvirtualenv
@@ -50,7 +50,9 @@ RUN apt-get update -qq -o Acquire::Languages=none \
         debhelper \
         devscripts \
         dh-systemd \
+        libsystemd-dev \
         lsb-release \
+        pkg-config \
         python3-dev \
         python3-pip \
         python3-setuptools \
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 55b1b10a77e263d93fbb0d31838959703642a66a..55663e9cac2884d8b1dc368d51eb7c3780787641 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -86,13 +86,9 @@ long_description = read_file(("README.rst",))
 
 REQUIREMENTS = dependencies['REQUIREMENTS']
 CONDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS = dependencies['CONDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS']
+ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS = dependencies['ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS']
 
 # Make `pip install matrix-synapse[all]` install all the optional dependencies.
-ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS = set()
-
-for optional_deps in CONDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS.values():
-    ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS = set(optional_deps) | ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS
-
 CONDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS["all"] = list(ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS)
 
 
diff --git a/synapse/python_dependencies.py b/synapse/python_dependencies.py
index 62c1748665a4e94cfe22675127665d0a92faaa0b..779f36dbede448e3311b6d066d0b5c51474e5b2e 100644
--- a/synapse/python_dependencies.py
+++ b/synapse/python_dependencies.py
@@ -86,18 +86,22 @@ CONDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS = {
     "acme": ["txacme>=0.9.2"],
 
     "saml2": ["pysaml2>=4.5.0"],
+    "systemd": ["systemd-python>=231"],
     "url_preview": ["lxml>=3.5.0"],
     "test": ["mock>=2.0", "parameterized"],
     "sentry": ["sentry-sdk>=0.7.2"],
 }
 
+ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS = set()
+
+for name, optional_deps in CONDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS.items():
+    # Exclude systemd as it's a system-based requirement.
+    if name not in ["systemd"]:
+        ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS = set(optional_deps) | ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS
 
-def list_requirements():
-    deps = set(REQUIREMENTS)
-    for opt in CONDITIONAL_REQUIREMENTS.values():
-        deps = set(opt) | deps
 
-    return list(deps)
+def list_requirements():
+    return list(set(REQUIREMENTS) | ALL_OPTIONAL_REQUIREMENTS)
 
 
 class DependencyException(Exception):