diff --git a/src/scriptengine/cli/se.py b/src/scriptengine/cli/se.py
index e9202b1..de4dc48 100644
--- a/src/scriptengine/cli/se.py
+++ b/src/scriptengine/cli/se.py
@@ -65,6 +65,11 @@ def parse_cmd_line_args():
     arg_parser.add_argument(
         "--nocolor", help="do not use colored terminal output", action="store_true"
     )
+    arg_parser.add_argument(
+        "--parallel-io",
+        help="run loop iterations concurrently using threads (for I/O-bound tasks)",
+        action="store_true",
+    )
     arg_parser.add_argument("files", help="YAML file(s) to read", nargs="+")
 
     return arg_parser.parse_args()
@@ -146,6 +151,7 @@ def main():
             "cli": {
                 "cwd": os.getcwd(),
                 "script_path": script_path,
+                "parallel": parsed_args.parallel_io,
             },
             "tasks": {
                 "timing": {
diff --git a/src/scriptengine/jinja.py b/src/scriptengine/jinja.py
index 3483cfa..9c90876 100644
--- a/src/scriptengine/jinja.py
+++ b/src/scriptengine/jinja.py
@@ -105,8 +105,9 @@ def render(arg, context, recursive=True, boolean=False):
     """
 
     def render_with_context(string_arg):
+        if "{" not in string_arg:
+            return string_arg
         try:
-            # Render string in parameter environment using context
             return _param_env.from_string(string_arg).render(context)
         except jinja2.TemplateError as e:
             raise ScriptEngineParseJinjaError(
diff --git a/src/scriptengine/jobs.py b/src/scriptengine/jobs.py
index d856217..1b883da 100644
--- a/src/scriptengine/jobs.py
+++ b/src/scriptengine/jobs.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 """
 
 import ast
+import concurrent.futures
 import copy
 import logging
 import uuid
@@ -134,21 +135,46 @@ def append(self, todo):
         self._todo.extend(todo_list)
         self.log_debug(f'Append: {",".join(t.shortid for t in todo_list)}')
 
+    def _run_iteration(self, context, items):
+        for t in self.todo:
+            c = t.run(Context({**context, **items}))
+            if c:
+                self.log_warning(
+                    f"Context update from {t.shortid} discarded in parallel loop"
+                )
+
     def run(self, context):
         if self.when(context):
             local_context = Context(copy.deepcopy(context))
             context_update = Context()
-            for items in self.loop(local_context):
-                if set(items) & set(local_context):
-                    self.log_warning(
-                        "The following loop variables collide with the "
-                        f"context: {set(items) & set(local_context)}"
-                    )
-                for t in self.todo:
-                    c = t.run(Context({**local_context, **items}))
-                    if c:
-                        local_context += c
-                        context_update += c
+
+            parallel = (
+                self._loop
+                and context.get("se", {}).get("cli", {}).get("parallel", False)
+            )
+
+            if parallel:
+                all_items = list(self.loop(local_context))
+                with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor() as pool:
+                    futures = [
+                        pool.submit(self._run_iteration, local_context, items)
+                        for items in all_items
+                    ]
+                    for f in concurrent.futures.as_completed(futures):
+                        f.result()
+            else:
+                for items in self.loop(local_context):
+                    if set(items) & set(local_context):
+                        self.log_warning(
+                            "The following loop variables collide with the "
+                            f"context: {set(items) & set(local_context)}"
+                        )
+                    for t in self.todo:
+                        c = t.run(Context({**local_context, **items}))
+                        if c:
+                            local_context += c
+                            context_update += c
+
             return context_update or None
 
     def _log(self, level, msg):
diff --git a/test-se-run/bench/bench-copy.yml b/test-se-run/bench/bench-copy.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ebd1db2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test-se-run/bench/bench-copy.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Benchmark: base.copy loop
+- base.make_dir:
+    path: "{{workdir}}"
+- base.chdir:
+    path: "{{workdir}}"
+- base.copy:
+    src: "{{srcdir}}/{{item}}"
+    dst: .
+  loop: "{{files}}"
diff --git a/test-se-run/bench/bench-move-setup.yml b/test-se-run/bench/bench-move-setup.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..338c57a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test-se-run/bench/bench-move-setup.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Setup for base.move benchmark: copy source files into workdir
+- base.make_dir:
+    path: "{{workdir}}"
+- base.chdir:
+    path: "{{workdir}}"
+- base.copy:
+    src: "{{srcdir}}/{{item}}"
+    dst: .
+  loop: "{{files}}"
diff --git a/test-se-run/bench/bench-move.yml b/test-se-run/bench/bench-move.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aee3835
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test-se-run/bench/bench-move.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Benchmark: base.move loop
+# Assumes files are already present in workdir (copied by bench-move-setup.yml)
+- base.make_dir:
+    path: "{{workdir}}/dest"
+- base.chdir:
+    path: "{{workdir}}"
+- base.move:
+    src: "{{item}}"
+    dst: dest/
+  loop: "{{files}}"
diff --git a/test-se-run/bench/run-bench.sh b/test-se-run/bench/run-bench.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..bf58451
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test-se-run/bench/run-bench.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Benchmark: se --parallel-io vs se (sequential)
+# Usage: bash run-bench.sh <dir_with_nc_files> [iterations]
+# Set BENCH_WORKDIR if /tmp is too small.
+set -uo pipefail
+
+SRCDIR=${1:?'Usage: run-bench.sh <dir_with_nc_files> [iterations]'}
+N=${2:-5}
+DIR=$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)
+W=${BENCH_WORKDIR:-${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/se-bench-$$}
+
+command -v se >/dev/null || { echo "ERROR: se not in PATH" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+# Pick 10 largest .nc files
+mapfile -t FILES < <(find "$SRCDIR" -maxdepth 1 -name '*.nc' -size +1M -printf '%s %f\n' | sort -rn | head -10 | awk '{print $2}')
+(( ${#FILES[@]} >= 5 )) || { echo "ERROR: need >=5 .nc files >1MB" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+YAML_LIST=$(printf ", '%s'" "${FILES[@]}"); YAML_LIST="[${YAML_LIST:2}]"
+
+mkdir -p "$W/src"
+for f in "${FILES[@]}"; do [ -f "$W/src/$f" ] || cp "$SRCDIR/$f" "$W/src/"; done
+
+cat > "$W/ctx.yml" <<EOF
+- base.context:
+    files: $YAML_LIST
+    srcdir: "$W/src"
+    workdir: "$W/run"
+EOF
+
+echo "se --parallel-io benchmark: ${#FILES[@]} files, $N iterations"
+echo ""
+
+TIMEFORMAT='%R'
+
+time_copy() {
+    rm -rf "$W/run"
+    { time se --loglevel error $1 "$W/ctx.yml" "$DIR/bench-copy.yml" ; } 2>&1 | tail -1
+}
+
+time_move() {
+    rm -rf "$W/run"
+    se --loglevel error "$W/ctx.yml" "$DIR/bench-move-setup.yml" >/dev/null 2>&1
+    { time se --loglevel error $1 "$W/ctx.yml" "$DIR/bench-move.yml" ; } 2>&1 | tail -1
+}
+
+median() { printf '%s\n' "$@" | sort -n | awk -v n=$# 'NR==int(n/2)+1{print}'; }
+
+for op in copy move; do
+    par=() seq=()
+    fn="time_$op"
+
+    $fn "" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+    $fn "--parallel-io" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+
+    for ((i=1; i<=N; i++)); do
+        if (( i%2 )); then
+            par+=("$($fn "--parallel-io")")
+            seq+=("$($fn "")")
+        else
+            seq+=("$($fn "")")
+            par+=("$($fn "--parallel-io")")
+        fi
+    done
+
+    mp=$(median "${par[@]}"); ms=$(median "${seq[@]}")
+    sp=$(awk "BEGIN{printf \"%.0f\", ($ms-$mp)/$ms*100}")
+    printf "  %-10s  par=%ss  seq=%ss  speedup=%s%%\n" "base.$op" "$mp" "$ms" "$sp"
+    printf "             all par: %s\n" "${par[*]}"
+    printf "             all seq: %s\n" "${seq[*]}"
+done
+
+echo ""
+rm -rf "$W"
diff --git a/tests/jobs/test_looping.py b/tests/jobs/test_looping.py
index 74dbf24..130ee6d 100644
--- a/tests/jobs/test_looping.py
+++ b/tests/jobs/test_looping.py
@@ -163,3 +163,33 @@ def test_loop_over_lists(capsys):
     captured = capsys.readouterr()
     assert "1 - 2" in captured.out
     assert "3 - 4" in captured.out
+
+
+def test_parallel_loop(capsys):
+    j = from_yaml(
+        """
+        base.echo:
+            msg: 'Hello {{item}}'
+        loop: [1, 2, 3]
+    """
+    )
+    j.run(Context({"se": {"cli": {"parallel": True}}}))
+    captured = capsys.readouterr()
+    assert "Hello 1" in captured.out
+    assert "Hello 2" in captured.out
+    assert "Hello 3" in captured.out
+
+
+def test_parallel_loop_with_context_var(capsys):
+    j = from_yaml(
+        """
+        base.echo:
+            msg: 'File {{item}}'
+        loop: '{{files}}'
+    """
+    )
+    j.run(Context({"files": ["a.nc", "b.nc", "c.nc"], "se": {"cli": {"parallel": True}}}))
+    captured = capsys.readouterr()
+    assert "File a.nc" in captured.out
+    assert "File b.nc" in captured.out
+    assert "File c.nc" in captured.out