Principal Accessibility Software Engineer

We are looking for a Software Engineer with passion and experience in accessibility and accessibility technology to help drive accessibility across the products and services lines in the Cloud+Artificial Intelligence division.


We are seeking candidates with real enthusiasm for accessibility, usability and inclusive design who have demonstrable and extensive experience designing accessible software and supporting engineering teams in understanding and fixing accessibility issues.


Accessibility is a key part of Microsoft’s mission to empower people and organizations to achieve more. You will join a team leading a cross-company effort to build applications and solutions that provide a great experience for all our customers regardless of their abilities. As a customer advocate and accessibility champion you will influence product directions, technical roadmaps and engineering processes across the whole division. More importantly, you will be at the forefront of a company-wide mission to ensure accessibility and usability are built into our products and deeply rooted in our design and engineering culture.
To be successful in this role you will need organizational capabilities, understanding of product cycles and engineering processes, and experience in accessibility APIs. As the Accessibility SME for Cloud+Enterprise you will be supporting an extensive number of engineering teams across the division and help them understand, address and ultimately prevent accessibility issues. You will create best practices, methodologies, code samples and documentation to make accessibility easier and more transparent for engineers. You will analyze backlogs and understand root causes for accessibility issues. You will also need to be a detail-oriented, data-driven and effective communicator, negotiator, coordinator and influencer who is capable of building trustful relationships to effectively collaborate and propel multiple groups and tasks to completion.
Responsibilities

Your responsibilities will include:


• Connect with products and services teams across the Cloud+Enterprise division to support their efforts on accessibility.
• Understand and address accessibility issues across the organization, and support engineering teams in their efforts to address current bugs and prevent new ones.
• Contribute to code both inside and outside the division, with a focus on open source projects being used in our projects, to address and remediate accessibility issues.
• Raise awareness about accessibility across the division, creating and fostering internal communities, champions and guides that can help teams achieve their accessibility goals.
• Manage accessibility dashboards and scorecards by collecting data, metrics and status reports from engineering teams.
• Work closely with other accessibility, design and usability specialists within Microsoft.
Qualifications

Basic Qualifications:


• Bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience.
• 10+ years of experience in software development.
• 5+ years of experience with accessibility desktop APIs.
• A demonstrated track record working across teams and successfully leading complex initiatives.
• Capability to develop and execute against a long-term vision of success, while ensuring successful completion of short-term operational objectives.



Preferred Qualifications:


• Experience with Accessibility technologies, standards and guidelines.
• Passion for technology, accessibility and overall quality of Microsoft’s products and services.
• Empathy for customers and partners, and for resolving the difficulties they face while using our products.
• Experience working and partnering directly with communities of consumers with disabilities and driving change into products and services.







Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.



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