Joakim Vaverka is the Deputy Director of SIPRI. Before joining SIPRI in September 2020, he was Head of Political Affairs at the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations in New York. Prior to this position, he was Head of the Global Division of the Security Policy Department at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Joakim Vaverka held various positions in the Swedish Foreign Service, including at the Embassy of Sweden in Cairo, Egypt, the Permanent Mission of Sweden to the United Nations, and the Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Division of the Global Security Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Vaverka has also worked at the Department for International and Security Affairs in the Swedish Ministry of Defence.