diff --git a/quickwit/quickwit-parquet-engine/src/storage/writer.rs b/quickwit/quickwit-parquet-engine/src/storage/writer.rs
index 2fcf45b9699..4722cd89538 100644
--- a/quickwit/quickwit-parquet-engine/src/storage/writer.rs
+++ b/quickwit/quickwit-parquet-engine/src/storage/writer.rs
@@ -298,7 +298,61 @@ impl ParquetWriter {
         Ok(sorted_batch)
     }
 
-    /// Validate, sort, and build WriterProperties for a batch.
+    /// Reorder columns for optimal physical layout in the Parquet file.
+    ///
+    /// Sort schema columns are placed first (in their configured sort order),
+    /// followed by all remaining data columns in alphabetical order. This
+    /// layout enables a two-GET streaming merge during compaction: the first
+    /// GET reads the footer, the second streams from the start of the row
+    /// group — sort columns arrive first, allowing the compactor to compute
+    /// the global merge order before data columns arrive.
+    fn reorder_columns(&self, batch: &RecordBatch) -> RecordBatch {
+        let schema = batch.schema();
+        let mut ordered_indices: Vec<usize> = Vec::with_capacity(schema.fields().len());
+        let mut used = vec![false; schema.fields().len()];
+
+        // Phase 1: sort schema columns in their configured order.
+        for sf in &self.resolved_sort_fields {
+            if let Ok(idx) = schema.index_of(sf.name.as_str()) {
+                if !used[idx] {
+                    ordered_indices.push(idx);
+                    used[idx] = true;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Phase 2: remaining columns, alphabetically by name.
+        let mut remaining: Vec<(usize, &str)> = schema
+            .fields()
+            .iter()
+            .enumerate()
+            .filter(|(i, _)| !used[*i])
+            .map(|(i, f)| (i, f.name().as_str()))
+            .collect();
+        remaining.sort_by_key(|(_, name)| *name);
+        for (idx, _) in remaining {
+            ordered_indices.push(idx);
+        }
+
+        // Build reordered schema and columns.
+        let new_fields: Vec<Arc<arrow::datatypes::Field>> = ordered_indices
+            .iter()
+            .map(|&i| Arc::new(schema.field(i).clone()))
+            .collect();
+        let new_columns: Vec<Arc<dyn arrow::array::Array>> = ordered_indices
+            .iter()
+            .map(|&i| Arc::clone(batch.column(i)))
+            .collect();
+        let new_schema = Arc::new(arrow::datatypes::Schema::new_with_metadata(
+            new_fields,
+            schema.metadata().clone(),
+        ));
+
+        RecordBatch::try_new(new_schema, new_columns)
+            .expect("reorder_columns: schema and columns must be consistent")
+    }
+
+    /// Validate, sort, reorder columns, and build WriterProperties for a batch.
     fn prepare_write(
         &self,
         batch: &RecordBatch,
@@ -306,7 +360,7 @@ impl ParquetWriter {
     ) -> Result<(RecordBatch, WriterProperties), ParquetWriteError> {
         validate_required_fields(&batch.schema())
             .map_err(|e| ParquetWriteError::SchemaValidation(e.to_string()))?;
-        let sorted_batch = self.sort_batch(batch)?;
+        let sorted_batch = self.reorder_columns(&self.sort_batch(batch)?);
 
         let kv_metadata = split_metadata.map(build_compaction_key_value_metadata);
 
@@ -907,4 +961,121 @@ mod tests {
             json_str
         );
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_column_ordering_sort_columns_first_then_alphabetical() {
+        // Default metrics sort fields: metric_name|service|env|datacenter|region|host|
+        //                               timeseries_id|timestamp_secs
+        let config = ParquetWriterConfig::default();
+        let writer = ParquetWriter::new(config, &TableConfig::default());
+
+        // Create a batch with columns in a deliberately scrambled order.
+        // The tag columns (service, env, region, host) plus two extra data
+        // columns (zzz_extra, aaa_extra) that are NOT in the sort schema.
+        let batch = create_test_batch_with_tags(
+            3,
+            &["host", "zzz_extra", "env", "region", "service", "aaa_extra"],
+        );
+        let input_schema = batch.schema();
+        let input_names: Vec<&str> = input_schema
+            .fields()
+            .iter()
+            .map(|f| f.name().as_str())
+            .collect();
+        // Sanity: input has tag columns in the scrambled order we specified,
+        // not in sort-schema or alphabetical order.
+        let host_pos = input_names.iter().position(|n| *n == "host").unwrap();
+        let service_pos = input_names.iter().position(|n| *n == "service").unwrap();
+        assert!(
+            host_pos < service_pos,
+            "input should have host before service (scrambled), got: {:?}",
+            input_names
+        );
+
+        let reordered = writer.reorder_columns(&batch);
+        let schema = reordered.schema();
+        let names: Vec<String> = schema.fields().iter().map(|f| f.name().clone()).collect();
+
+        // Sort schema columns that are present should come first, in sort order.
+        // From the default: metric_name, service, env, region, host, timestamp_secs
+        // (datacenter and timeseries_id are not in the batch).
+        // metric_type and value are required fields but NOT sort columns.
+        let expected_prefix = [
+            "metric_name",
+            "service",
+            "env",
+            "region",
+            "host",
+            "timestamp_secs",
+        ];
+        let sort_prefix: Vec<&str> = names
+            .iter()
+            .map(|s| s.as_str())
+            .take_while(|n| expected_prefix.contains(n))
+            .collect();
+        assert_eq!(
+            sort_prefix, expected_prefix,
+            "sort schema columns should appear first in configured order, got: {:?}",
+            names
+        );
+
+        // Remaining columns should be alphabetical.
+        let remaining: Vec<&str> = names
+            .iter()
+            .skip(sort_prefix.len())
+            .map(|s| s.as_str())
+            .collect();
+        let mut sorted_remaining = remaining.clone();
+        sorted_remaining.sort();
+        assert_eq!(
+            remaining, sorted_remaining,
+            "non-sort columns should be in alphabetical order, got: {:?}",
+            remaining
+        );
+
+        // All original columns must be present (no data loss).
+        assert_eq!(reordered.num_columns(), batch.num_columns());
+        assert_eq!(reordered.num_rows(), batch.num_rows());
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_column_ordering_preserved_in_parquet_file() {
+        use std::fs::File;
+
+        use parquet::file::reader::{FileReader, SerializedFileReader};
+
+        let config = ParquetWriterConfig::default();
+        let writer = ParquetWriter::new(config, &TableConfig::default());
+
+        let batch = create_test_batch_with_tags(3, &["host", "zzz_extra", "env", "service"]);
+
+        let temp_dir = std::env::temp_dir();
+        let path = temp_dir.join("test_column_ordering.parquet");
+        writer
+            .write_to_file_with_metadata(&batch, &path, None)
+            .unwrap();
+
+        // Read back and verify physical column order from the Parquet schema.
+        let file = File::open(&path).unwrap();
+        let reader = SerializedFileReader::new(file).unwrap();
+        let parquet_schema = reader.metadata().file_metadata().schema_descr();
+        let col_names: Vec<String> = (0..parquet_schema.num_columns())
+            .map(|i| parquet_schema.column(i).name().to_string())
+            .collect();
+
+        // Sort columns first: metric_name, service, env, host, timestamp_secs
+        // Then remaining alphabetically: metric_type, value, zzz_extra
+        assert_eq!(col_names[0], "metric_name");
+        assert_eq!(col_names[1], "service");
+        assert_eq!(col_names[2], "env");
+        assert_eq!(col_names[3], "host");
+        assert_eq!(col_names[4], "timestamp_secs");
+
+        let remaining = &col_names[5..];
+        let mut sorted = remaining.to_vec();
+        sorted.sort();
+        assert_eq!(remaining, &sorted, "data columns should be alphabetical");
+
+        std::fs::remove_file(&path).ok();
+    }
 }