Traffic aware network workload management system

A system is provided to manage operation of workloads over a workload placement network comprising: a user interface to receive workload placement specifications that indicate locations; a data storage device storing cluster location information; a workload placement manager to determine placement of workloads at clusters based at least in part upon cluster locations and cluster resource utilization; wherein the clusters include metrics collector instances to collect information indicating cluster resource utilization and to send the collected information over the workload placement network to the placement the orchestration manager.