An apparatus includes a processor to: receive a request to perform a job flow; within a performance container, based on the data dependencies among a set of tasks of the job flow, derive an order of performance of the set of tasks that includes a subset able to be performed in parallel, and derive a quantity of task containers to enable the parallel performance of the subset; based on the derived quantity of task containers, derive a quantity of virtual machines (VMs) to enable the parallel performance of the subset; provide, to a VM allocation routine, an indication of a need for provision of the quantity of VMs; and store, within a task queue, multiple task routine execution request messages to enable parallel execution of task routines within the quantity of task containers to cause the parallel performance of the subset.