Accessibility and Inclusive Design Lead

Snook is a design studio built to make the world more human. We work with organisations to design more effective services which help people thrive. We do this with our design team, engaging with users, building digital products, training our clients, and much more.

This month, we’re ten years old. In the past five years we’ve more than doubled in size to a team approaching 40 people, opened a new London studio, and worked with brilliant clients — from Cancer Research UK to Hackney City Council, Tesco to the Scottish Government.

Learn more about Snook’s exciting journey here.

We have big plans for the next three years and are seeking people who can join us, working with our partners and clients to design services that support people to thrive.

Below, you’ll find information on our requirements, the job responsibilities, our values, what we’re looking for, what we offer, and how to apply.
About the role

Our accessibility lead role is about championing inclusive design and accessibility across everything Snook does from the products we build to the services we offer.

A major part of the role is delivering a programme of work with Northgate Public Services to train and build capabilities in development and design teams to ensure accessibility and inclusive design is at the heart of what they do.
Responsibilities

You will be expected to have the following responsibilities:

Own strategic accountability for our approach to accessibility at Snook
Lead a programme of work with our partner organisation Northgate Public Services including in-depth developer training and wider inclusive design seminars
Influence the technical and design standards for accessibility across across NPS and Snook programme of work
Speaking for accessibility and inclusive digital design
Providing ongoing in-depth training programs for teams on accessibility regulations and wider inclusive design principles
Stay up-to-date on technology and experience patterns in order to constantly be capable of communicating changes and updates to our approach to accessibility.
Be the expert, communicate, internally and externally, on behalf of Snook on the topic of accessibility as a thought leader in the space.
Liaising with key senior stakeholders to understand Snook’s objectives and promote an inclusive design agenda.
Being the first port of call for the UX/UI team to understand accessibility issues around their early designs.
Understanding all new access and assistive technologies in common use and ensuring this knowledge is trained across Snook and our partner company
Creating and running training for designers and developers
Helping define accessibility guidelines or new areas including AR, interactive videos and voice.
Setting up research sessions and user testing sessions to explore our prototypes and live design from an inclusive design perspective
Develop a commercial model to align with Snook’s other services in the marketplace to include accessibility audits and guidance in their delivery

Our Requirements

We’re keen to hear from a range of applicants who can demonstrate some, or all, of the following skills and experience:

Experience with digital accessibility tech and design solutions, and policy
Deep understanding of AWCAG 2.x guidelines and ARIA techniques
Great experience using and testing with assistive technologies (incl VoiceOver, Browser extensions, JAWS and NVDA)
Great experience in running accessibility audits and producing accessibility statements
Demonstrable experience of recruiting and working with people with disabilities
A suitable graduate or postgraduate qualification
An excellent portfolio of inclusive research and design practice, covering different platforms and services.
Experience mentoring practitioners of different experience levels
Proven ability to lead workshops and kick off sessions
Ability to inspire a vision but also focus on details of accessible solutions
Very comfortable presenting to directors and leadership team
Diplomatic and collaborative with a calm temperament, able to work within cross disciplinary teams
Some experience of commercialisation of services
Self motivated, enthusiastic and inspirational

Desired skills:

HTML
Accessibility
WCAG 2.1 AA
CSS
JavaScript
Usability
User Centred Design
Inclusive Design

Most importantly, you’re looking to join a lovely team and support us in delivering great design work. Definite bonus points include an appreciation for gifs and bad puns.
What we offer

Snook offer a competitive salary, 29.5 holidays per year (including public holidays), additional annual Christmas closure and a supportive maternity leave policy
We provide an annual training budget for external opportunities from talks and conferences to more bespoke hands-on training
We respect that people have commitments and provide flexible working hours through discussion
We have an annual team-away retreat for us to come together as a company, taking time out to learn, reflect, and eat snacks.
We spend a Friday together every quarter as one studio to run show and tells
Every Monday morning, we have a team breakfast where we eat together and share our ambitions for the week ahead
We are an equal opportunity, Disability Confident and Living Wage Foundation employer
We have a bike to work scheme and free membership to HeadSpace the mental health app
We support you with a Snook buddy when you join to get you started

How to apply

We strive for diversity in our team. If we’re going to design services for the public we need to ensure our team is inclusive. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and ages.

The closing time and date for applications is 12 noon, Monday 13 January 2020

Please submit a CV, cover letter and a short supporting example of your work in the format of an A4 document highlighting key projects. Send this to jobs@wearesnook.com with the title Hire me: Accessibility Lead.

In the covering letter, please tell us a little bit about yourself, why you would be a good candidate for the position, and why you want to work at Snook.

We will offer interviews at times that suit you, so if you have children, caring duties, or have to travel after work we’re happy to offer convenient times outside of work hours.