1. A system configured to perform batch job execution in a virtualized environment, the system comprising: one or more computing devices configured as a virtualized grid cluster by means of a virtualization platform, the cluster comprising: a centralized storage repository associated with computer memory across one or more of the computing devices; a grid manager deployed on an instantiated virtual machine and configured to: manage one or more incoming job requests, wherein managing comprises deploying a job and workflow management instance for defining and storing an incoming job request at the centralized storage repository, queue one or more of the received job requests in a job execution queue wherein the position of a job request in the queue is determined by a policy engine associated with the grid manager, and monitor one or more virtual grid nodes, wherein a virtual grid node is provisioned on demand by the virtualization platform, and monitoring comprises collecting computing resource utilization by the virtual grid node and deploying tasks to one or more of the grid nodes; and a message bus whereby data and messages are exchanged between the grid manager and one or more grid nodes.