diff --git a/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/noxfile.py b/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/noxfile.py
index c366a50e293f..af201dfb8a05 100644
--- a/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/noxfile.py
+++ b/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/noxfile.py
@@ -180,9 +180,13 @@ def default(session, install_extras=True):
 @_calculate_duration
 def unit(session, test_type):
     """Run the unit test suite."""
-    if session.python == "3.15":
+    # TODO(https://github.com/googleapis/google-cloud-python/issues/17741):
+    # remove this skip once the optional extras resolve on 3.15.
+    # `unit_noextras` can be tested on 3.15
+    if session.python == "3.15" and test_type == "unit":
         session.skip(
-            "Skipping 3.15 until wheels are available for pyarrow. Also pyproj wheels are needed for dependency geopandas."
+            "Optional extras do not yet resolve on 3.15; "
+            "unit_noextras covers the core install."
         )
 
     install_extras = True
diff --git a/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/pyproject.toml b/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/pyproject.toml
index 607de8005ba7..82d8e2219eee 100644
--- a/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/pyproject.toml
+++ b/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/pyproject.toml
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ classifiers = [
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13",
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.14",
+  "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.15",
   "Operating System :: OS Independent",
   "Topic :: Internet",
 ]
diff --git a/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_client.py b/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_client.py
index c48a73cc2ebd..88629500a007 100644
--- a/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_client.py
+++ b/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_client.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
 import requests
 
 try:
-    import opentelemetry
+    import opentelemetry.sdk as opentelemetry
 except ImportError:
     opentelemetry = None
 
@@ -1101,7 +1101,7 @@ def test_create_routine_w_conflict(self):
         )
 
     def test_span_status_is_set(self):
-        pytest.importorskip("opentelemetry")
+        pytest.importorskip("opentelemetry.sdk")
         from google.cloud.bigquery.routine import Routine
 
         tracer_provider = TracerProvider()
diff --git a/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_opentelemetry_tracing.py b/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_opentelemetry_tracing.py
index 57132a1b99b5..03e12e20e7f6 100644
--- a/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_opentelemetry_tracing.py
+++ b/packages/google-cloud-bigquery/tests/unit/test_opentelemetry_tracing.py
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 from unittest import mock
 
 try:
-    import opentelemetry
+    import opentelemetry.sdk as opentelemetry
 except ImportError:
     opentelemetry = None