Digital Accessibility Specialist

As the D igital Accessibility Specialist, you will provide subject matter expertise and guidance around accessibility and user experience to the program team. You will be involved in the product planning, deliverables, and milestone reviews to ensure user experience and accessibility principles, requirements, and standards are clearly communicated and documented.

If you have a passion for innovation, modernization, and future-oriented goals, joining our One Washington Team is the ideal career choice for you. This position will directly influence the configuration and implementation of enterprise projects that will have significant impacts on how all branches of state government, institutions of higher education and businesses that sells goods and services to the state can better serve all Washingtonians.

Gov. Jay Inslee has tasked this group with one of the largest and most transformative information technology projects in Washington state history. The One Washington Team’s main objective is to modernize and enhance outdated technology systems that state agencies have used for decades without much improvement — such as the state’s core finance, procurement, budget, and human capital management functions. This project will help bring Washington into the present and prepared for the future with live and on-demand data.
Who we are:
Our work at the Office of Financial Management (OFM) serves as a crucial part of the decision-making that the governor, Legislature and state agencies do each year. As an employee of OFM, you will be part of a team of dedicated professionals who work hard every day to provide the vital information and services they need to serve the people of Washington.

If playing a key role in supporting and improving state government matters to you, you’ve found the right place.

What we offer our employees:

Foster an environment of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. We strive to hire, cultivate and retain a competitive workforce that reflects the communities we serve.
Encourage a healthy life/work balance by offering flexible/alternative work schedules, wellness program, mobile arrangements and telework opportunities.
Employees (and their families) have coverage options for medical, dental, vision and basic life insurance.
Opportunity to enroll in state retirement programs and a deferred compensation plan.
A minimum of 14 days of vacation leave per year and 12 paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
OFM offers a commute trip reduction program, tuition reimbursement, membership to statewide Business Resource Groups and an Infants-at-Work program.

See our Benefits page for more information.

Duties

What you’ll do:

Articulate a program-wide shared vision for user experience and accessibility.
Develop user experience and accessibility key performance indicators and monitor and report on progress.
Create a user experience and accessibility roadmap, and improve collaboration processes and approach at each stage of the project.
Lead discovery and user research efforts to document user experience requirements which are rooted in an understanding of users goals, needs, current pain points, and context of use.
Work with project teams to respond to reported user experience and accessibility issues, collaborating with developers and vendors as needed.
Provide user experience and accessibility leadership for strategic business initiatives.
Function as an active advocate and educator to team members on user experience and accessibility.
Build collaborative relationships and coordinate with various stakeholders to better understand the scope of current software solutions.
Maintain and update a system-wide content strategy to provide a consistent user experience.
Apply subject matter expertise of user experience and accessibility guidelines and regulations to determine the impact to enterprise technologies.
Assist in developing a user experience and accessibility training for program, agency, and state staff.
Research and remain current on accessibility laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Ensure ISO standards for human-centered design for interactive systems are practiced.
Evaluate compliance of technologies being used or considered for adoption to support the One Washington Workday implementation.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

Four years’ experience in implementation of accessibility initiatives.
Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer applications, accessibility, or a closely allied field. Please note: additional two-years of relevant professional experience may substitute for the educational requirement.
Experience creating accessible content in accordance with accessibility standards for websites, documents, or other digital assets.
Extensive knowledge of assistive technologies, such as: JAWS, VoiceOver, Dragon Naturally Speaking, etc.
Extensive knowledge and experience with web accessibility standards and guidelines to ensure compliance with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AA) and the Web Accessibility Initiative Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 techniques for web content.
Demonstrated knowledge of modern practices in user experience design, information architecture, and user research.


Desired Qualifications:

Experience with implementation of Workday
Professional accessibility certifications, including but not limited to: Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competency (CPACC) or Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS).
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) training.


Supplemental Information

Application Process:
How to Apply
Interested? We would love to hear from you. Click “Apply” at the top of this page to start your application (you can save the application and come back to it, if needed).

Please include the following along with your application:

A letter of interest describing your specific qualifications about this position.
A resume detailing your applicable experience and education.
At least three professional references with current telephone numbers.


We will directly contact the top candidates to interview for this position. Because we base our selection on the information you provide, it is in your best interest to identify the knowledge, skills and abilities that address the required and desirable qualifications we described above.

Questions:
For questions about this recruitment or to request reasonable accommodation in the application process, please email William at TalentAcquisition@ofm.wa.gov. For TTY service, please call the Washington Relay Service at 7-1-1 or 1-800-833-6388.

The Office of Financial Management is an equal opportunity employer. We strive to create a working environment that includes and respects cultural, racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and gender identity diversity. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of disability, persons over 40 years of age, and disabled and Vietnam-era veterans are encouraged to apply.
This position is exempt from civil service rules.
For more information, please see WAC 357-19-195.