Techniques for performing dynamic load balancing during distributed query processing are provided. In one embodiment, a first processing node in a plurality of processing nodes can execute an instance of a query operator, where the query operator is part of a query plan for a database query that is processed in a distributed manner by the plurality of processing nodes. The first processing node can further monitor its load level while the executing occurs. If the load level exceeds a threshold, the first processing node can split an amount of remaining work that is associated with the executing into a first portion and a second portion, determine state information for moving execution of the second portion from the first processing node to a second processing node, and save the state information to a distributed data store.