diff --git a/contrib/systemd/nfd.service b/contrib/systemd/nfd.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f9f9df
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/systemd/nfd.service
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2015,  Regents of the University of California,
+#                      Arizona Board of Regents,
+#                      Colorado State University,
+#                      University Pierre & Marie Curie, Sorbonne University,
+#                      Washington University in St. Louis,
+#                      Beijing Institute of Technology,
+#                      The University of Memphis.
+#
+# This file is part of NFD (Named Data Networking Forwarding Daemon).
+# See AUTHORS.md for complete list of NFD authors and contributors.
+#
+# NFD is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms
+# of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation,
+# either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# NFD is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
+# without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
+# PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+# NFD, e.g., in COPYING.md file.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+#
+# Author: Eric Newberry <enewberry@email.arizona.edu>
+
+[Unit]
+Description=NDN Forwarding Daemon
+Documentation=man:nfd man:nfdc man:nfd-status
+Wants=network-online.target
+After=network-online.target
+
+[Service]
+Environment=HOME=/usr/local/var/lib/ndn/nfd
+ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/nfd --config /usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd.conf
+ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -ec 'sleep 2; if [ -f /usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd-init.sh ]; then . /usr/local/etc/ndn/nfd-init.sh; fi'
+Restart=on-failure
+ProtectSystem=full
+PrivateTmp=yes
+PrivateDevices=yes
+ProtectHome=yes
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target