In one aspect, a method for scheduling jobs in a computational workflow includes identifying, from a computational workflow by a workflow execution engine executing on a processor, a plurality of jobs ready for execution. The method includes sorting, based on computational resource requirements associated with each identified job, the identified jobs into a prioritized queue. The method includes provisioning one or more computational instances based on the computational resource requirements of the identified jobs in the prioritized queue, wherein at least one computational instance is provisioned based on a highest priority job in the queue. The method includes submitting the prioritized jobs for execution to the one or more computational instances.