The effects of variable fluid properties and variable heat flux on the flow and heat transfer of a non-Newtonian Maxwell fluid over an unsteady stretching sheet in the presence of slip velocity have been studied. The governing differential equations are transformed into a set of coupled non-linear ordinary differential equations and then solved with a numerical technique using appropriate boundary conditions for various physical parameters. The numerical solution for the governing non-linear boundary value problem is based on applying the fourth-order Runge–Kutta method coupled with the shooting technique over the entire range of physical parameters. The effects of various parameters like the viscosity parameter, thermal conductivity parameter, unsteadiness parameter, slip velocity parameter, the Deborah number, and the Prandtl number on the flow and temperature profiles as well as on the local skin-friction coefficient and the local Nusselt number are presented and discussed. Comparison of numerical results is made with the earlier published results under limiting cases.