diff --git a/sdk-platform-java/gax-java/gax-httpjson/src/main/java/com/google/api/gax/httpjson/HttpHeadersUtils.java b/sdk-platform-java/gax-java/gax-httpjson/src/main/java/com/google/api/gax/httpjson/HttpHeadersUtils.java
index 66f89451225f..9c58a12fd41d 100644
--- a/sdk-platform-java/gax-java/gax-httpjson/src/main/java/com/google/api/gax/httpjson/HttpHeadersUtils.java
+++ b/sdk-platform-java/gax-java/gax-httpjson/src/main/java/com/google/api/gax/httpjson/HttpHeadersUtils.java
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 import com.google.api.client.util.FieldInfo;
 import com.google.api.core.InternalApi;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
+import com.google.common.collect.Iterables;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import org.jspecify.annotations.NullMarked;
@@ -52,6 +53,33 @@ public class HttpHeadersUtils {
     return null;
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Retrieves the first string value of a header by case-insensitive name from a headers map.
+   *
+   * @param headers the map of header names to header values
+   * @param name the case-insensitive header name to look up
+   * @return the first string value of the header, or {@code null} if not found
+   */
+  public static @Nullable String getFirstHeader(Map<String, Object> headers, String name) {
+    for (Map.Entry<String, Object> entry : headers.entrySet()) {
+      if (entry.getKey().equalsIgnoreCase(name)) {
+        return extractFirstString(entry.getValue());
+      }
+    }
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  private static @Nullable String extractFirstString(@Nullable Object headerValue) {
+    if (headerValue == null) {
+      return null;
+    }
+    if (headerValue instanceof Iterable) {
+      Object firstElement = Iterables.getFirst((Iterable<?>) headerValue, null);
+      return firstElement != null ? firstElement.toString() : null;
+    }
+    return headerValue.toString();
+  }
+
   public static HttpHeaders setHeaders(HttpHeaders headers, Map<String, String> headersMap) {
     for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : headersMap.entrySet()) {
       setHeader(headers, entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
diff --git a/sdk-platform-java/gax-java/gax-httpjson/src/test/java/com/google/api/gax/httpjson/HttpHeadersUtilsTest.java b/sdk-platform-java/gax-java/gax-httpjson/src/test/java/com/google/api/gax/httpjson/HttpHeadersUtilsTest.java
index 247f2b29072f..d0f0afbca05f 100644
--- a/sdk-platform-java/gax-java/gax-httpjson/src/test/java/com/google/api/gax/httpjson/HttpHeadersUtilsTest.java
+++ b/sdk-platform-java/gax-java/gax-httpjson/src/test/java/com/google/api/gax/httpjson/HttpHeadersUtilsTest.java
@@ -29,12 +29,14 @@
  */
 package com.google.api.gax.httpjson;
 
+import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
 
 import com.google.api.client.http.HttpHeaders;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
 import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableMap;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Map;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 
@@ -130,4 +132,68 @@ void testGetUserAgentValue() {
     headersMap = ImmutableMap.of("Custom-Header", "CustomHeader", "accept", "Accept");
     assertNull(HttpHeadersUtils.getUserAgentValue(headersMap));
   }
+
+  @Test
+  void getFirstHeader_exactMatch_returnsValue() {
+    Map<String, Object> headers =
+        ImmutableMap.of("X-Goog-Upload-URL", "https://test.googleapis.com/upload");
+
+    assertThat(HttpHeadersUtils.getFirstHeader(headers, "X-Goog-Upload-URL"))
+        .isEqualTo("https://test.googleapis.com/upload");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void getFirstHeader_caseInsensitiveMatch_returnsValue() {
+    Map<String, Object> headers =
+        ImmutableMap.of("X-Goog-Upload-URL", "https://test.googleapis.com/upload");
+
+    assertThat(HttpHeadersUtils.getFirstHeader(headers, "x-goog-upload-url"))
+        .isEqualTo("https://test.googleapis.com/upload");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void getFirstHeader_iterableValue_returnsFirstElement() {
+    Map<String, Object> headers =
+        ImmutableMap.of(
+            "Location", ImmutableList.of("https://redirect.url", "https://secondary.url"));
+
+    assertThat(HttpHeadersUtils.getFirstHeader(headers, "location"))
+        .isEqualTo("https://redirect.url");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void getFirstHeader_nonStringValue_convertsToString() {
+    Map<String, Object> headers = ImmutableMap.of("Content-Length", 1024L);
+
+    assertThat(HttpHeadersUtils.getFirstHeader(headers, "content-length")).isEqualTo("1024");
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void getFirstHeader_emptyIterable_returnsNull() {
+    Map<String, Object> headers = ImmutableMap.of("Empty-List-Header", ImmutableList.of());
+
+    assertThat(HttpHeadersUtils.getFirstHeader(headers, "empty-list-header")).isNull();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void getFirstHeader_nullFirstElementInIterable_returnsNull() {
+    Map<String, Object> headers =
+        Collections.singletonMap("Null-First-Header", Collections.singletonList(null));
+
+    assertThat(HttpHeadersUtils.getFirstHeader(headers, "null-first-header")).isNull();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void getFirstHeader_nullValueInMap_returnsNull() {
+    Map<String, Object> headers = Collections.singletonMap("Null-Value-Header", null);
+
+    assertThat(HttpHeadersUtils.getFirstHeader(headers, "null-value-header")).isNull();
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  void getFirstHeader_headerNotFound_returnsNull() {
+    Map<String, Object> headers = ImmutableMap.of("Existing-Header", "value");
+
+    assertThat(HttpHeadersUtils.getFirstHeader(headers, "non-existent-header")).isNull();
+  }
 }