diff --git a/bigframes/pandas/__init__.py b/bigframes/pandas/__init__.py
index ded4760fa3..833f0d1d1d 100644
--- a/bigframes/pandas/__init__.py
+++ b/bigframes/pandas/__init__.py
@@ -400,6 +400,7 @@ def remote_function(
     bigquery_connection: Optional[str] = None,
     reuse: bool = True,
     name: Optional[str] = None,
+    packages: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
 ):
     return global_session.with_default_session(
         bigframes.session.Session.remote_function,
@@ -409,6 +410,7 @@ def remote_function(
         bigquery_connection=bigquery_connection,
         reuse=reuse,
         name=name,
+        packages=packages,
     )
 
 
diff --git a/bigframes/remote_function.py b/bigframes/remote_function.py
index fd9aec825f..c82ba84056 100644
--- a/bigframes/remote_function.py
+++ b/bigframes/remote_function.py
@@ -100,9 +100,12 @@ def get_remote_function_locations(bq_location):
     return bq_location, cloud_function_region
 
 
-def _get_hash(def_):
+def _get_hash(def_, package_requirements=None):
     "Get hash (32 digits alphanumeric) of a function."
     def_repr = cloudpickle.dumps(def_, protocol=_pickle_protocol_version)
+    if package_requirements:
+        for p in sorted(package_requirements):
+            def_repr += p.encode()
     return hashlib.md5(def_repr).hexdigest()
 
 
@@ -129,18 +132,18 @@ class IbisSignature(NamedTuple):
     output_type: IbisDataType
 
 
-def get_cloud_function_name(def_, uniq_suffix=None):
+def get_cloud_function_name(def_, uniq_suffix=None, package_requirements=None):
     "Get a name for the cloud function for the given user defined function."
-    cf_name = _get_hash(def_)
+    cf_name = _get_hash(def_, package_requirements)
     cf_name = f"bigframes-{cf_name}"  # for identification
     if uniq_suffix:
         cf_name = f"{cf_name}-{uniq_suffix}"
     return cf_name
 
 
-def get_remote_function_name(def_, uniq_suffix=None):
+def get_remote_function_name(def_, uniq_suffix=None, package_requirements=None):
     "Get a name for the BQ remote function for the given user defined function."
-    bq_rf_name = _get_hash(def_)
+    bq_rf_name = _get_hash(def_, package_requirements)
     bq_rf_name = f"bigframes_{bq_rf_name}"  # for identification
     if uniq_suffix:
         bq_rf_name = f"{bq_rf_name}_{uniq_suffix}"
@@ -200,7 +203,8 @@ def create_bq_remote_function(
             RETURNS {bq_function_return_type}
             REMOTE WITH CONNECTION `{self._gcp_project_id}.{self._bq_location}.{self._bq_connection_id}`
             OPTIONS (
-              endpoint = "{endpoint}"
+              endpoint = "{endpoint}",
+              max_batching_rows = 1000
             )"""
 
         logger.info(f"Creating BQ remote function: {create_function_ddl}")
@@ -320,11 +324,14 @@ def {handler_func_name}(request):
 
         return handler_func_name
 
-    def generate_cloud_function_code(self, def_, dir):
+    def generate_cloud_function_code(self, def_, dir, package_requirements=None):
         """Generate the cloud function code for a given user defined function."""
 
         # requirements.txt
         requirements = ["cloudpickle >= 2.1.0"]
+        if package_requirements:
+            requirements.extend(package_requirements)
+        requirements = sorted(requirements)
         requirements_txt = os.path.join(dir, "requirements.txt")
         with open(requirements_txt, "w") as f:
             f.write("\n".join(requirements))
@@ -333,12 +340,14 @@ def generate_cloud_function_code(self, def_, dir):
         entry_point = self.generate_cloud_function_main_code(def_, dir)
         return entry_point
 
-    def create_cloud_function(self, def_, cf_name):
+    def create_cloud_function(self, def_, cf_name, package_requirements=None):
         """Create a cloud function from the given user defined function."""
 
         # Build and deploy folder structure containing cloud function
         with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as dir:
-            entry_point = self.generate_cloud_function_code(def_, dir)
+            entry_point = self.generate_cloud_function_code(
+                def_, dir, package_requirements
+            )
             archive_path = shutil.make_archive(dir, "zip", dir)
 
             # We are creating cloud function source code from the currently running
@@ -392,6 +401,9 @@ def create_cloud_function(self, def_, cf_name):
             function.build_config.source.storage_source.object_ = (
                 upload_url_response.storage_source.object_
             )
+            function.service_config = functions_v2.ServiceConfig()
+            function.service_config.available_memory = "1024M"
+            function.service_config.timeout_seconds = 600
             create_function_request.function = function
 
             # Create the cloud function and wait for it to be ready to use
@@ -422,6 +434,7 @@ def provision_bq_remote_function(
         output_type,
         reuse,
         name,
+        package_requirements,
     ):
         """Provision a BigQuery remote function."""
         # If reuse of any existing function with the same name (indicated by the
@@ -435,19 +448,25 @@ def provision_bq_remote_function(
 
         # Derive the name of the cloud function underlying the intended BQ
         # remote function
-        cloud_function_name = get_cloud_function_name(def_, uniq_suffix)
+        cloud_function_name = get_cloud_function_name(
+            def_, uniq_suffix, package_requirements
+        )
         cf_endpoint = self.get_cloud_function_endpoint(cloud_function_name)
 
         # Create the cloud function if it does not exist
         if not cf_endpoint:
-            cf_endpoint = self.create_cloud_function(def_, cloud_function_name)
+            cf_endpoint = self.create_cloud_function(
+                def_, cloud_function_name, package_requirements
+            )
         else:
             logger.info(f"Cloud function {cloud_function_name} already exists.")
 
         # Derive the name of the remote function
         remote_function_name = name
         if not remote_function_name:
-            remote_function_name = get_remote_function_name(def_, uniq_suffix)
+            remote_function_name = get_remote_function_name(
+                def_, uniq_suffix, package_requirements
+            )
         rf_endpoint, rf_conn = self.get_remote_function_specs(remote_function_name)
 
         # Create the BQ remote function in following circumstances:
@@ -619,6 +638,7 @@ def remote_function(
     bigquery_connection: Optional[str] = None,
     reuse: bool = True,
     name: Optional[str] = None,
+    packages: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
 ):
     """Decorator to turn a user defined function into a BigQuery remote function.
 
@@ -710,6 +730,10 @@ def remote_function(
             caution, because two users working in the same project and dataset
             could overwrite each other's remote functions if they use the same
             persistent name.
+        packages (str[], Optional):
+            Explicit name of the external package dependencies. Each dependency
+            is added to the `requirements.txt` as is, and can be of the form
+            supported in https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/requirements-file-format/.
 
     """
     import bigframes.pandas as bpd
@@ -821,6 +845,7 @@ def wrapper(f):
             ibis_signature.output_type,
             reuse,
             name,
+            packages,
         )
 
         node = remote_function_node(dataset_ref.routine(rf_name), ibis_signature)
diff --git a/bigframes/session.py b/bigframes/session.py
index 6c1160c88e..fa5b415350 100644
--- a/bigframes/session.py
+++ b/bigframes/session.py
@@ -1413,6 +1413,7 @@ def remote_function(
         bigquery_connection: Optional[str] = None,
         reuse: bool = True,
         name: Optional[str] = None,
+        packages: Optional[Sequence[str]] = None,
     ):
         """Decorator to turn a user defined function into a BigQuery remote function. Check out
         the code samples at: https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/remote-functions#bigquery-dataframes.
@@ -1467,7 +1468,7 @@ def remote_function(
                 Name of the BigQuery connection. You should either have the
                 connection already created in the `location` you have chosen, or
                 you should have the Project IAM Admin role to enable the service
-                to create the connection for you if you need it.If this parameter is
+                to create the connection for you if you need it. If this parameter is
                 not provided then the BigQuery connection from the session is used.
             reuse (bool, Optional):
                 Reuse the remote function if already exists.
@@ -1482,6 +1483,10 @@ def remote_function(
                 caution, because two users working in the same project and dataset
                 could overwrite each other's remote functions if they use the same
                 persistent name.
+            packages (str[], Optional):
+                Explicit name of the external package dependencies. Each dependency
+                is added to the `requirements.txt` as is, and can be of the form
+                supported in https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/requirements-file-format/.
         Returns:
             callable: A remote function object pointing to the cloud assets created
             in the background to support the remote execution. The cloud assets can be
@@ -1499,6 +1504,7 @@ def remote_function(
             bigquery_connection=bigquery_connection,
             reuse=reuse,
             name=name,
+            packages=packages,
         )
 
     def read_gbq_function(
diff --git a/samples/snippets/remote_function.py b/samples/snippets/remote_function.py
index 9998a23eb2..646d7b0c30 100644
--- a/samples/snippets/remote_function.py
+++ b/samples/snippets/remote_function.py
@@ -89,19 +89,25 @@ def get_bucket(num):
     # say we consider the `species`, `island` and `sex` of the penguins
     # sensitive information and want to redact that by replacing with their hash
     # code instead. Let's define another scalar custom function and decorate it
-    # as a remote function
+    # as a remote function. The custom function in this example has external
+    # package dependency, which can be specified via `packages` parameter.
     @bpd.remote_function(
-        [str], str, bigquery_connection="bigframes-rf-conn", reuse=False
+        [str],
+        str,
+        bigquery_connection="bigframes-rf-conn",
+        reuse=False,
+        packages=["cryptography"],
     )
     def get_hash(input):
-        import hashlib
+        from cryptography.fernet import Fernet
 
         # handle missing value
         if input is None:
             input = ""
-        encoded_input = input.encode()
-        hash = hashlib.md5(encoded_input)
-        return hash.hexdigest()
+
+        key = Fernet.generate_key()
+        f = Fernet(key)
+        return f.encrypt(input.encode()).decode()
 
     # We can use this remote function in another `pandas`-like API `map` that
     # can be applied on a DataFrame
diff --git a/tests/system/large/test_remote_function.py b/tests/system/large/test_remote_function.py
index f270099182..730a1dbde4 100644
--- a/tests/system/large/test_remote_function.py
+++ b/tests/system/large/test_remote_function.py
@@ -916,6 +916,51 @@ def square(x):
         )
 
 
+@pytest.mark.flaky(retries=2, delay=120)
+def test_remote_function_with_external_package_dependencies(
+    session, scalars_dfs, dataset_id, bq_cf_connection, functions_client
+):
+    try:
+
+        def pd_np_foo(x):
+            import numpy as mynp
+            import pandas as mypd
+
+            return mypd.Series([x, mynp.sqrt(mynp.abs(x))]).sum()
+
+        # Create the remote function with the name provided explicitly
+        pd_np_foo_remote = session.remote_function(
+            [int],
+            float,
+            dataset_id,
+            bq_cf_connection,
+            reuse=False,
+            packages=["numpy", "pandas >= 2.0.0"],
+        )(pd_np_foo)
+
+        # The behavior of the created remote function should be as expected
+        scalars_df, scalars_pandas_df = scalars_dfs
+
+        bf_int64_col = scalars_df["int64_too"]
+        bf_result_col = bf_int64_col.apply(pd_np_foo_remote)
+        bf_result = bf_int64_col.to_frame().assign(result=bf_result_col).to_pandas()
+
+        pd_int64_col = scalars_pandas_df["int64_too"]
+        pd_result_col = pd_int64_col.apply(pd_np_foo)
+        pd_result = pd_int64_col.to_frame().assign(result=pd_result_col)
+
+        # pandas result is non-nullable type float64, make it Float64 before
+        # comparing for the purpose of this test
+        pd_result.result = pd_result.result.astype(pandas.Float64Dtype())
+
+        assert_pandas_df_equal_ignore_ordering(bf_result, pd_result)
+    finally:
+        # clean up the gcp assets created for the remote function
+        cleanup_remote_function_assets(
+            session.bqclient, functions_client, pd_np_foo_remote
+        )
+
+
 @pytest.mark.flaky(retries=2, delay=120)
 def test_remote_function_with_explicit_name_reuse(
     session, scalars_dfs, dataset_id, bq_cf_connection, functions_client