Jaime Rico new senior business developer at Knowit

Jaime Rico has joined Knowit as a business developer with a focus on the EU and NATO. After a long career in the defence sector, both as an officer and a consultant, he now wants to strengthen cooperation between Swedish and European actors. In an interview with FSN, he talks about his new role, Knowit's international venture, and collaboration within the defence industry.1. What is your background?

Together with my parents and younger brother, I moved to Sweden 50 years ago from Chile. I grew up in Märsta, north of Stockholm. Growing up, I was very active in football and playing the trumpet, both in Märsta and Sigtuna. In 1993/94, I completed my military service at K4 Arvidsjaur (northern Sweden) as a Ranger Group Commander, and since then, defence and security issues have been a constant feature of my professional life.

2. Why did you choose to work in the defence sector?

My time in Arvidsjaur made the choice easy — being able to work with people and develop together while contributing to Sweden's security gives me both humility and pride in my daily work. From Arvidsjaur, the path led to the Officer Programme, where I was admitted as a cadet on behalf of the Swedish Air Force in Luleå (northern Sweden). Rather than leaving the service, I moved out to the coast of Norrbotten and began a preparatory officer course (förberedande officerskurs, FOK) run by the Air Force. I then attended the Officer Candidate School (OHS) 1994–96 in Halmstad and Uppsala. I left the uniform in 2001 and worked in telecoms until 2005, when I began as a defence consultant at ÅF — meaning I am celebrating my 20th anniversary as a consultant in the defence industry!

3. What attracted you to this role and to Knowit in particular?

Since 2021, I have been working more with information security, helping both private and public organisations protect their data — that is, Data Centric Security — but I felt somewhat removed from the core defence business. I had been part of the entire period of disarmament, and now that we need to rearm, I realised I was sitting in the spectator's stand. I want to contribute to a strong defence across the Nordic region and Europe. After a number of conversations with various companies in the sector, I ended up at Knowit. I had an incredibly strong gut feeling about this place — it is a company with very sound core values, where the leadership has done an excellent job that has permeated the entire organisation.

4. What does your new role entail?

As a business developer with a focus on the EU and NATO, I will be working extensively with the European Defence Fund (EDF) and collaborating with Swedish and other European companies to win interesting EDF calls for proposals. The goal is also to establish Knowit as a supplier within NATO. I will also continue to work as a senior consultant, allowing me to contribute both strategically and hands-on.

In broader terms, I will work together with colleagues to drive what we call the internationalisation of Knowit's defence business. Knowit is growing within the defence sector — we have considerable expertise in the field and longstanding partnerships with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and the Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten), among others. The natural next step, given the current global security situation, is to move into the EU and NATO spheres. A successful defence requires increased cooperation between public and private actors and between countries. This is where we see that we can make a difference and contribute.

5. What is at the top of your agenda for the next six months?

Right now, I am trying to learn everything we have in our toolbox at Knowit. With specialists in areas including high-technology software development, systems development, and management consulting, I have an exciting period ahead of me in which I see great potential. At the same time, I am creating collaborative frameworks in order to submit proposals in a couple of areas ahead of EDF 2025. I also look forward to upcoming assignments in business development, strategy work, and advisory services to management teams.

NDS has previously interviewed, among others, Johan Magnusson and Karin Swanson in this series. If you know someone who would be suitable for this interview series, or feel that you yourself would be a good fit, NDS can be reached at news@nordicdefencesector.com — please mark the email "New in the Job".