State machine controlled dynamic distributed computing

A computer readable storage medium with executable instructions specifies the execution of a state machine operating across a set of computing nodes in a distributed computing system. The executable instructions execute a set of operators, where the execution of each operator is under the control of a state machine that periodically invokes pause control states to pause the execution of an operator in response to a violation of a service level agreement specifying an operating condition threshold within the distributed computing system. Partitions of input data are formed that are worked on independently within the distributed computing system. A set of data batches associated with the input data is processed. Data partition control states to process the partitions associated with the set of data batches are specified. Key control states to process a set of keys associated with a data partition of the partitions are defined.