A distributed task scheduling method and system that separates and performs task management and task execution on separate computing devices and distributes task execution over multiple computing devices. The distributed task scheduler includes two-tier architecture having at least one execution host and at least one data broker. The execution hosts handle the tasks and the data broker manages the task schedule. The data broker determines any scheduled tasks that need to be executed. Once an available task is found, the data broker dispenses the scheduled task to an execution host. A timeout period is selected for each assigned task. If the assigned execution host does not report back to the data broker within the timeout period the completion of the assigned task, the data broker is free to assign the task to another execution host to ensure reliable execution of the task.