Maxwell joined the Victorian squad in July 2009. He was called into the FDR squad in November when Andrew McDonald was injured. Maxwell played in the 2010 Hong Kong Cricket Sixes tournament and was named Player of the Tournament as Australia became champions for the first time.

Maxwell was selected to play for the Australian Institute of Sports in the 2010 Emerging Players Tournament. He scored 63 against India in the semi-final.

In the 2011 Emerging Players Tournament, Maxwell scored 59 off 23 balls in a game against India. He then made 110 off 52 balls against South Africa in a losing cause.

Maxwell made his ODI debut for Australia against Afghanistan in a one-off One Day International in the United Arab Emirates in 2012. He scored 2 and took 0-21. In his 2nd ODI, playing against Pakistan, he hit 38 off 38 balls, helping rescue Australia from a tricky 5-121 to victory. He followed it with 28 off 27 balls and 0-37 off 4 overs in the second ODI, but in a losing course. In the third ODI he scored an unbeaten 56, including a six to seal victory for Australia; he also took 0-33.

Maxwell was picked in Australia’s squad to play in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka. During press conference he said that, “I’m very confident I can perform now at this level. “Hopefully I can be that x-factor that Australia needs to win this tournament… That could mean a run out, a brilliant catch, a breakthrough wicket with the ball or big hitting. I’m really embracing that ‘x-factor’ tag. I don’t really have too many doubts, I don’t think I’m going to try to back down any time soon either.”

Maxwell was first signed by the Delhi Daredevils Indian Premier League in 2012 as a replacement player for Travis Birt who withdrew from the squad. Team mentor TA Sekar said he was impressed by seeing Maxwell play in the Emerging Player Contest in the previous year. “When we watched him bat, we were reminded of how we had spotted David Warner in 2008. We believe Glenn will play for Australia soon. Besides being a dashing batsman, Glenn is a solid offspinner and an amazing fielder, with infectious enthusiasm. A multi-skilled player like him will add immense value to the side.” Maxwell played two games in the 2012 IPL edition with minor performances.

Maxwell then played for Hampshire in the 2012 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa.

On 10 January 2013, he played his first ODI at home against Sri Lanka, being involved in two run outs off consecutive balls. He made 5 and 0-28. In other games against Sri Lankans he made 8 and 0-19, 9 and 0-6. The series drawn 2-2.

On 1 February 2013, he scored 51* (from 35 balls) as an opener as Australia chased down the target of 71 set by the West Indies in their first ODI of the series. On 3 February in the series’ 2nd ODI in Perth, he scored a duck, but took 4/63 with the ball to support Mitchell Starc (5/32) and help bowl out the visitors for 212 in 38.1 overs. In the last two games he took 4 and 1-44, and 1-34 and 1.

Maxwell was picked on the 2013 2012-13 Indian tour. Australia was hoping to use him as an all rounder despite erratic bowling form.

In March 2013, he made his Test debut against India in the second Test at Hyderabad. He was included as the second spinner in the team, supporting Xavier Doherty (Nathan Lyon had been dropped and Steve O’Keefe was not taken on the tour). Maxwell failed to impress with the bat, making 13 and 8 in the first and second innings respectively, but took 4/127 with the ball.

In June 2013, during 2013 ICC Champions Trophy Maxwell scored 29 off 22 balls against New Zealand. Against Sri Lanka, he scored 32 off 20 balls in a losing course. Australia knocked out from tournament in early stages.

At the 2013 IPL auctions, Maxwell was the most expensive player as Mumbai Indians bought him for 1 million US$ even after being a great player.

Maxwell made a return to the Test team in October 2014 against Pakistan in the UAE, playing the 2nd match of the series. He made 37 in the first innings and just 4 in the second and took 0–78 with the ball. He had better luck in the ODI games, taking 21 and 2-29, 0-19 and 78 off 81 balls earned him man of the match award, and 20 off 21 balls and 2-41 for another man of the match performance.

He was out of the Mumbai Indians retention team 2014 as per 2014 IPL 2014 retention rules. In 2014, he was bought by Kings XI Punjab for Rs. 6 crore. In his team’s opening match against Chennai Super Kings, he scored 95 runs from 43 balls (with 15 fours and two sixes) to chase down a target of 206 in 18.5 overs. In the second match against Rajasthan Royals, he hit 89 off 45 balls with eight fours and six sixes, which included frequent reverse shots, helping his team win against a high target. In the third match, Maxwell scored 95 runs from 43 balls with 9 sixes and 5 fours against Sunrisers Hyderabad and was awarded Man of the Match for the third time in a row.

In the 29th match of the IPL on 7 May 2014 against Chennai Super Kings, Maxwell scored 90 runs off just 38 balls with 6 fours and 8 sixes and picked up the wicket of Suresh Raina while bowling, winning the Man of the Match award for the fourth time in the season. Punjab went on to post a massive score of 231, the highest innings score of season. In 16 games he had the season’s 3rd highest aggregate of 552 runs at an average of 34.50.

In late 2015, Maxwell travelled to England to play for Yorkshire. He scored 0 and 2 against Somerset, 0 and 23 against Middlesex (but took three wickets), 36 and 140 against Durham, and 43 against Sussex. During Australia tour of England and Ireland, Maxwell played in all ODIs. In one-off ODI against Ireland, he scored only 2 runs and took 2-41.

Against England he made 15 and 1-29, 49 and 2-44, 2-56 and 17, 85 (off 64 balls) and 1-54. He was awarded the Men’s T20I Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal ceremony by the CA in 2015.

In mid 2016, Australia toured West Indies for a Tri-nation series involving West Indies and South Africa. Maxwell made 1-3 and 0 against the West Indies, 2-15 and 3 against South Africa, 46 off 26 against West Indies, and only 4 run in the final against the West Indies. Despite his poor performances throughout the series, Australia won the series by defeating West Indies by 58 runs.

Maxwell was not included for the Test and ODI series against Sri Lanka, but was called to the T20I series. On 6 September 2016, at Pallekele against Sri Lanka, Maxwell scored unbeaten 145 off 65 deliveries which is recorded as the second-highest individual score in Twenty20 International history. Maxwell thus became the first batsman to hit a century in his maiden T20 innings as an opener. In the match, Australia posted 263/3 by recording the highest T20I team total, surpassing the previous highest of 260/6 posted by Sri Lanka against Kenya way back in 2007.

He was also awarded the Men’s ODI Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal ceremony by the CA in 2016.

On February 2017, Maxwell was picked on the Test match tour of India after New Zealand tour. He played the opening tour game against India A and scored 16 and 1. Mitchell Marsh was picked for the first two tests but then was injured. Maxwell was selected to take his place at number six for the third test.

In 2017, Maxwell only played one full game in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy held in England and Walses. In the match against England, he scored 20 runs in a losing course. Against Bangladesh and New Zealand, matches were washed out due to rain by giving one point to each team. Thus, after defeat against England, Australia eliminated from the tournament.

Maxwell was picked on the 2017 tour of Bangladesh. At the press conference, Maxwell said that, “I don’t think I will change too much from what I did in India,”. “I thought I had really good plans during the Test series against them. I will employ probably something similar, basically backing my defense and trying to revolve my game around that. It is basically going to be batting long periods of time and making sure that when we do bat those long periods of time we are making big hundreds.” He scored 23 and 14 in the first test where Australia suffered their first defeat against Bangladesh in Tests. In the second Test, Maxwell scored 38 and 25 not out, where Australia won the match by 7 wickets. Series was shared 1-1. At the end of the tour Darren Lehman said “With No.6 in Australia, it’s totally different to Asia. We’ll certainly be looking at that position, and anyone can jump out of the pack in the three Shield games and what we think the best make-up is for that first Test. Glenn is there at the moment, like everyone else, he’ll have to perform.”

Maxwell struggled on the ODI tour of India in September 2017. He made 39 (off 17 balls) in the first ODI, as Australia’s top score, then 14 in second ODI, and 5 in third ODI. With poor performance, Maxwell was dropped for the rest of the series and Australia lost the series 4-1.

Maxwell had a disappointing IPL in 2017. Kings team director Virender Sehwag said “”We always knew that when Maxwell fires, then he can win the match on his own. But he didn’t fire in most games. That is a big disappointment… He didn’t take the responsibility as a captain and didn’t perform for Kings XI Punjab”. Maxwell was bought by the Delhi Daredevils for $1.75 million. Maxwell played for the Delhi Daredevils. He had a poor season, scoring 142 runs at an average of 14 and not passing 50 once.

Maxwell was overlooked for the Australian One Day team in favour of Chris Lynn for the series against England in 2018. When Lynn fell injured the selectors replaced him with Cameron White. The comment by Australian coach Lehmann caused a deal of controversy at the time.

On 7 February 2018 against England, in the second T20I of tri-series, he scored a blistering 103 runs off just 58 balls to lead Australia to their second consecutive win of the Tri-Series. The innings was not without controversy, as Maxwell was ruled not out on 59 when Jason Roy claimed a catch. With this century, Maxwell joined elite club of players to score more than one century in Twenty20 International history with Brendon McCullum, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis and record holders Colin Munro and Rohit Sharma. In addition, Maxwell took 3-10 with the ball, including two wickets in consecutive balls. He was Man of the Match for his all-round efforts.

On 28 March 2018, Maxwell was urgently recalled to the Australian Test squad following the suspensions of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft for ball tampering during the Third Test of the Australian 2018 Tour of South Africa. He did not play in the third test, however.

In April 2018, he was awarded a national contract by Cricket Australia for the 2018–19 season.

Maxwell was omitted from the Australian test squad to tour the UAE in October 2018, which caused some controversy. However he was picked in the T20 squad.

Maxwell was picked on the Australian ODI tour of England. In the first game he was Australia’s top scorer with 62. In the three matches he played, Maxwell scored 112 runs at an average of 37.33. He was also awarded the Men’s T20I Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal ceremony by the CA in 2019.

In February 2019, in the first T20 vs India, Maxwell scored 56 and got support from D’Arcy Short who scored 37(37). Australia were set a target of 127. Wickets fell early but Maxwell’s innings helped Australia win the match on the last ball. In the second T20 Maxwell scored 113*, thus becoming the first Australian cricketer to score 3 T20 centuries, and third in the world. He got support from D’Arcy Short again who scored 40 while Peter Handscomb also scored 20*. Australia were reeling again in a target 191 as Marcus Stoinis was dismissed early by Siddharth Kaul. But Maxwell’s heroics changed the game. He won the Man of the Match award for his blistering century and also won the man of the series for his batting performance of 169 runs in 2 innings.

In April 2019, he was named in Australia’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

In October 2019 Maxwell announced he would be taking a break from cricket due to mental health issues. Virat Kohli praised Maxwell, saying he had set the right example. Through his career Maxwell has received significant abuse on social media.

On 16 July 2020, Maxwell was named in a 26-man preliminary squad of players to begin training ahead of a possible tour to England following the COVID-19 pandemic. On 14 August 2020, Cricket Australia confirmed that the fixtures would be taking place, with Maxwell included in the touring party.