diff --git a/.changeset/auditor-zod-v4-refactor.md b/.changeset/auditor-zod-v4-refactor.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c1ac7ce0aa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/auditor-zod-v4-refactor.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/backend-defaults': patch
+---
+
+Refactored auditor severity log level mappings to use `zod/v4` with schema-driven defaults and type inference.
diff --git a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/auditor/types.ts b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/auditor/types.ts
deleted file mode 100644
index 49a6de75ea..0000000000
--- a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/auditor/types.ts
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,26 +0,0 @@
-/*
- * Copyright 2025 The Backstage Authors
- *
- * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
- * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
- * You may obtain a copy of the License at
- *
- *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- *
- * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
- * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
- * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
- * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
- * limitations under the License.
- */
-
-import { z } from 'zod/v3';
-
-/** @internal */
-export const severityLogLevelMappingsSchema = z.record(
-  z.enum(['low', 'medium', 'high', 'critical']),
-  z.enum(['debug', 'info', 'warn', 'error']),
-);
-
-/** @internal */
-export const CONFIG_ROOT_KEY = 'backend.auditor';
diff --git a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/auditor/utils.ts b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/auditor/utils.ts
index bf1e1f4756..0513aa84b2 100644
--- a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/auditor/utils.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/auditor/utils.ts
@@ -16,8 +16,20 @@
 
 import type { Config } from '@backstage/config';
 import { InputError } from '@backstage/errors';
-import { z } from 'zod/v3';
-import { CONFIG_ROOT_KEY, severityLogLevelMappingsSchema } from './types';
+import { z } from 'zod/v4';
+
+const CONFIG_ROOT_KEY = 'backend.auditor';
+
+const logLevel = z.enum(['debug', 'info', 'warn', 'error']);
+
+const severityLogLevelMappingsSchema = z.object({
+  low: logLevel.default('debug'),
+  medium: logLevel.default('info'),
+  high: logLevel.default('info'),
+  critical: logLevel.default('info'),
+});
+
+type SeverityLogLevelMappings = z.infer<typeof severityLogLevelMappingsSchema>;
 
 /**
  * Gets the `backend.auditor.severityLogLevelMappings` configuration.
@@ -26,41 +38,32 @@ import { CONFIG_ROOT_KEY, severityLogLevelMappingsSchema } from './types';
  * @returns The validated severity-to-log-level mappings.
  * @throws error - {@link @backstage/errors#InputError} if the mapping configuration is invalid.
  */
-export function getSeverityLogLevelMappings(config: Config) {
+export function getSeverityLogLevelMappings(
+  config: Config,
+): SeverityLogLevelMappings {
   const auditorConfig = config.getOptionalConfig(CONFIG_ROOT_KEY);
 
-  const severityLogLevelMappings = {
-    low:
-      auditorConfig?.getOptionalString('severityLogLevelMappings.low') ??
-      'debug',
-    medium:
-      auditorConfig?.getOptionalString('severityLogLevelMappings.medium') ??
-      'info',
-    high:
-      auditorConfig?.getOptionalString('severityLogLevelMappings.high') ??
-      'info',
-    critical:
-      auditorConfig?.getOptionalString('severityLogLevelMappings.critical') ??
-      'info',
-  } as Required<z.infer<typeof severityLogLevelMappingsSchema>>;
+  const input = {
+    low: auditorConfig?.getOptionalString('severityLogLevelMappings.low'),
+    medium: auditorConfig?.getOptionalString('severityLogLevelMappings.medium'),
+    high: auditorConfig?.getOptionalString('severityLogLevelMappings.high'),
+    critical: auditorConfig?.getOptionalString(
+      'severityLogLevelMappings.critical',
+    ),
+  };
 
-  const res = severityLogLevelMappingsSchema.safeParse(
-    severityLogLevelMappings,
-  );
-  if (!res.success) {
-    const key = res.error.issues.at(0)?.path.at(0) as string;
-    const value = (
-      res.error.issues.at(0) as unknown as Record<PropertyKey, unknown>
-    ).received as string;
-    const validKeys = (
-      res.error.issues.at(0) as unknown as Record<PropertyKey, unknown>
-    ).options as string[];
+  const parsed = severityLogLevelMappingsSchema.safeParse(input);
+
+  if (!parsed.success) {
+    const issue = parsed.error.issues[0];
+    const key = issue.path[0] as keyof typeof input;
+    const receivedValue = input[key];
     throw new InputError(
-      `The configuration value for 'backend.auditor.severityLogLevelMappings.${key}' was given an invalid value: '${value}'. Expected one of the following valid values: '${validKeys.join(
+      `The configuration value for '${CONFIG_ROOT_KEY}.severityLogLevelMappings.${key}' was given an invalid value: '${receivedValue}'. Expected one of the following valid values: '${logLevel.options.join(
         ', ',
       )}'.`,
     );
   }
 
-  return severityLogLevelMappings;
+  return parsed.data;
 }
diff --git a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/scheduler/lib/types.ts b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/scheduler/lib/types.ts
index c7f77e7a85..64f7d00899 100644
--- a/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/scheduler/lib/types.ts
+++ b/packages/backend-defaults/src/entrypoints/scheduler/lib/types.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 import { JsonObject } from '@backstage/types';
 import { CronTime } from 'cron';
 import { Duration } from 'luxon';
-import { z } from 'zod/v3';
+import { z } from 'zod/v4';
 
 function isValidOptionalDurationString(d: string | undefined): boolean {
   try {