Ex-Airbus, OneWeb Jim McClelland Joins Maxar as VP of Mission Architecture

Maxar’s headquarters. Photo: DigitalGlobe

Jim McClelland. Photo: ExecutiveBiz

Maxar Technologies hired Jim McClelland as vice president of it its newly established Mission Architecture function. McClelland most recently served as chief technology innovation officer at Airbus U.S., Space and Defense. He has also held positions as CTO of OneWeb Satellites; vice president of mission engineering and operations for Millennium Space Systems; and vice president of Mission Assurance for Skybox Imaging. From 1996 to 2011, McClelland was a key contributor to DigitalGlobe — now part of Maxar — where he served in numerous technical and management roles.

In this new leadership position, McClelland will play a role in the company’s strategic initiative to diversify the Space Infrastructure business and further penetrate U.S. civil and national security markets. He will be reporting to Maxar CTO Walter Scott.

“Jim brings a wealth of experience in the technical and business aspects of Earth observation and communications systems,” said Scott. “From his role in leading enterprise-wide systems engineering efforts for our WorldView satellites to his recent work with the OneWeb spacecraft, he has effectively applied ‘new space’ thinking and breakthrough ideas grounded in sound engineering and an intimate understanding of customers’ missions.”