A bstract Cross-section measurements for a Z boson produced in association with high-transverse-momentum jets ( p T ≥ 100 GeV) and decaying into a charged-lepton pair ( e + e − , μ + μ − ) are presented. The measurements are performed using proton–proton collisions at $$ \sqrt{s} $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msqrt> <mml:mi>s</mml:mi> </mml:msqrt> </mml:math> = 13 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb − 1 collected by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Measurements of angular correlations between the Z boson and the closest jet are performed in events with at least one jet with p T ≥ 500 GeV. Event topologies of particular interest are the collinear emission of a Z boson in dijet events and a boosted Z boson recoiling against a jet. Fiducial cross sections are compared with state-of-the-art theoretical predictions. The data are found to agree with next-to-next-to-leading-order predictions by NNLO jet and with the next-to-leading-order multi-leg generators M ad G raph 5_ a MC@NLO and S herpa .