In some embodiments, an archipelago model is provided for distributed execution of evolutionary computing techniques. In some embodiments, an archipelago manager computing device manages a centralized archipelago management queue, and provides population subsets to a plurality of island computing devices. The archipelago manager computing device receives candidate solutions from the island computing devices, stores the candidate solutions in the archipelago management queue, and transmits candidate solutions from the archipelago management queue to the island computing devices in order to exchange candidate solutions between the island computing devices. The use of an archipelago management queue allows transfer of candidate solutions between different island computing devices, is robust to failure of any given island computing device, and does not require homogeneity within the plurality of island computing devices.