Joining a space group was a new venture for Moutaz Mohammad Mashhour. Exploring his journey through the sector and the growth he’s experienced at Neo Space Group (NSG), we got the opportunity to sit down with Mashhour, chief HR, at LEAP 2025 in Rihyad.
Having originally planned to take some time away from work, Mashhour told Mark Walker, editorial director, The Fintech Times: “When this opportunity presented itself, it was too good to pass over.” Explaining what drew him to the role, Mashhour reflected on his time at Saudi Aramco and how it exposed him to the world of startups. From there, they have been a big passion of his, delving into new fields, taking on new challenges and bringing new minds into a variety of new positions.
When the Neo Space Group crossed his path, he noted: “What’s better than capping your career with something this big that is this important to the kingdom? I also saw this role as a matter of national pride as well – we’re setting up a space sector for the first time in the kingdom… What a legacy to leave behind!”
Mashhour drew upon his experience and noted a variety of comparisons between his previous recruitment roles and his current position at the Neo Space Group: “It is definitely as challenging as academia and healthcare. You need a spark – and I like these sorts of situations. It isn’t a challenge in the traditional sense. Rather, it is an interesting situation which provides you with the fulfilment and satisfaction of facing a challenge head-on and getting results.
Innovation is a core value that needs to be shared by all in a startup
Turning the conversation towards what is needed when creating a startup and how to instil a culture and ethos, Mashhour explained how innovation is a core pillar at NSG. He said: “Innovation is at the core of everything we do, including recruitment. We need to be very progressive in our thinking and very futuristic in what we do. But we still need to be innovative as well. We can’t put all our eggs in one basket.
“As such, we don’t rely on one source of talent. We use multifaceted approaches to attract talent. Once we have the talent, we take the same idea and find out how best to develop this talent.”
Mashhour further explained how NSG ensures that once the talent is developed, it is retained. Using this framework, he broke down how the firm went about hiring the right people for each department and diversified its workforce.
Joining NSG isn’t just a job, though. As Mashhour made clear: “By joining, you’re starting a career at NSG. How we work towards this can be seen through our value proposition.”
He continued: “When we developed our NSG salary structure, we had two tracks. We had the managerial track, and then we had the individual contributors track. The latter is when someone is compensated, similar to a managerial role, even though they’re an individual contributor that has a unique set of skills making the market more competitive.
“We try to be innovative in the value proposition that we present, innovative in our total rewards, and what the total rewards mean.”
Partnerships, training and acquisitions
To stay strong in a competitive market, Mashhour spoke about the number of partnerships signed by NSG and how they were helping the firm grow. “We’ve signed partnerships with many institutions and learning and development providers. We also have partnerships with top agencies.”
Once again echoing his previous patriotic sentiment, Mashhour explored how bringing good talent to NSG wasn’t only beneficial to the company, but also to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, he said this is only possible through partnerships.
While it is necessary to bring in expertise from abroad, NSG also aims to bring on local talent that is flourishing in the region. Speaking to this, Mashhour added: “We have an agreement with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. We’ve already attracted six of their top graduates in space and aerospace engineering.”
This is only the beginning was the sentiment shared. “We also have a memorandum of understanding and an agreement signed with Kaust, which is another organisation near and dear to my heart because I feel that I was a member of the founding team there, building the HR infrastructure.” He also explained how the company is looking to build curriculums that support graduates as soon as they leave education.
Merging talent from an existing company with a newly acquired one can be challenging. Noting the benefits that will come of the UP42 acquisition, Mashhour touched on the acquisition of another firm: ETS (Engineering and Technical Services). The last thing you want to do is merge an acquisition, explained Mashhour. “ETS is a local company that has been operating for 10 years, and we are currently in the middle of integrating and harmonising them with NSG. It’s not going to happen overnight.
“We started our plan for this integration and harmonisation early last month, and this is going to take a year, possibly a year and a half. Although it is a local company and should, therefore, not be that much of a challenge, we want to do it right. We want to make sure that there are proper change management and communication plans in place because, good harmonisation from the HR point-of-view touches people.”
Thoughts on LEAP 2025
As the conversation came to a close, the pair spoke about the event they were in and discussed how the conference was welcoming young people into the sector. “One of our young talent hires, Rana Alshaeri, now a regulatory and legal junior associate, got the opportunity to conduct a session. The energy she got from speaking to other young talent really helps us. She resonates with the audience.
“This young talent would see someone who’s only been at the company for a few months and see she’s already representing the firm. I spoke to her and told her we were really proud of what she has done.
“When you have young talent in such a forum, talking to other young talent and talking about space and regulatory topics within the sector, it’s much more impactful than someone like me, or others standing up and talking – it’s more relevant when you have your own crowd generation talking to you.”
