diff --git a/taskflow/jobs/backends/impl_zookeeper.py b/taskflow/jobs/backends/impl_zookeeper.py
index 96307790..f1decbbc 100644
--- a/taskflow/jobs/backends/impl_zookeeper.py
+++ b/taskflow/jobs/backends/impl_zookeeper.py
@@ -298,8 +298,7 @@ class ZookeeperJobBoard(jobboard.NotifyingJobBoard):
         self._persistence = persistence
         # Misc. internal details
         self._known_jobs = {}
-        self._job_lock = threading.RLock()
-        self._job_cond = threading.Condition(self._job_lock)
+        self._job_cond = threading.Condition()
         self._open_close_lock = threading.RLock()
         self._client.add_listener(self._state_change_listener)
         self._bad_paths = frozenset([path])
@@ -325,13 +324,12 @@ class ZookeeperJobBoard(jobboard.NotifyingJobBoard):
 
     @property
     def job_count(self):
-        with self._job_lock:
-            return len(self._known_jobs)
+        return len(self._known_jobs)
 
     def _fetch_jobs(self, ensure_fresh=False):
         if ensure_fresh:
             self._force_refresh()
-        with self._job_lock:
+        with self._job_cond:
             return sorted(six.itervalues(self._known_jobs))
 
     def _force_refresh(self):
@@ -356,8 +354,7 @@ class ZookeeperJobBoard(jobboard.NotifyingJobBoard):
 
     def _remove_job(self, path):
         LOG.debug("Removing job that was at path: %s", path)
-        with self._job_lock:
-            job = self._known_jobs.pop(path, None)
+        job = self._known_jobs.pop(path, None)
         if job is not None:
             self._emit(jobboard.REMOVAL, details={'job': job})
 
@@ -413,15 +410,14 @@ class ZookeeperJobBoard(jobboard.NotifyingJobBoard):
             child_paths.append(k_paths.join(self.path, c))
 
         # Figure out what we really should be investigating and what we
-        # shouldn't...
+        # shouldn't (remove jobs that exist in our local version, but don't
+        # exist in the children anymore) and accumulate all paths that we
+        # need to trigger population of (without holding the job lock).
         investigate_paths = []
-        with self._job_lock:
-            removals = set()
+        with self._job_cond:
             for path in six.iterkeys(self._known_jobs):
                 if path not in child_paths:
-                    removals.add(path)
-            for path in removals:
-                self._remove_job(path)
+                    self._remove_job(path)
             for path in child_paths:
                 if path in self._bad_paths:
                     continue
@@ -543,10 +539,9 @@ class ZookeeperJobBoard(jobboard.NotifyingJobBoard):
             if not job_path:
                 raise ValueError("Unable to check if %r is a known path"
                                  % (job_path))
-            with self._job_lock:
-                if job_path not in self._known_jobs:
-                    fail_msg_tpl += ", unknown job"
-                    raise excp.NotFound(fail_msg_tpl % (job_uuid))
+            if job_path not in self._known_jobs:
+                fail_msg_tpl += ", unknown job"
+                raise excp.NotFound(fail_msg_tpl % (job_uuid))
         try:
             yield
         except self._client.handler.timeout_exception as e:
@@ -663,7 +658,7 @@ class ZookeeperJobBoard(jobboard.NotifyingJobBoard):
             LOG.debug("Shutting down the notifier")
             self._worker.shutdown()
             self._worker = None
-        with self._job_lock:
+        with self._job_cond:
             self._known_jobs.clear()
         LOG.debug("Stopped & cleared local state")