Methods, apparatuses, and computer program products for proactive thermal management and processing core selection are provided. An example method includes receiving a job packet that is associated with a packet profile and determining one or more performance parameters associated with a performance of the job packet as defined by the packet profile. The method further includes generating a proactive thermal management procedure based upon the one or more performance parameters and associating the proactive thermal management procedure with the job packet. The method may further include determining a selected processing core from amongst a plurality of processing cores for the performance of the job packet based upon one or more operating characteristics of the processing cores and/or one or more performance parameters of the job packet.