Digital Accessibility Specialist

The Digital Accessibility Specialist will work closely with the Digital Services Manager to oversee the quality of Website content, with a focus on accessibility. The Digital Accessibility Specialist will identify relevant best practices and assist in the development of strategies and initiatives to enhance the companies ability to provide accessible digital information and services. Work involves assisting with the establishment of web content accessibility standards to be used agency-wide and assisting Manager to ensure that existing and new electronic and information resources are accessible.

The Digital Accessibility Specialist serves as a subject matter expert on accessibility. They work with the department Manager and team to lead the development of internal accessibility resources pertaining to accessibility initiatives and policies. They also audit documents, web pages, and applications to ensure they comply with established accessibility standards. The specialist may deliver accessibility training and technical support to employees.

Requirements

Responsibilities:

Collaborates on the delivery of services to customers to ensure that customer service is maintained at the highest level.
Interact with individuals at all levels of government and with vendors in a professional manner.
Serves as a subject matter expert on accessibility; develops internal accessibility resources pertaining to accessibility initiatives and policies.
Collaborates with Digital Services team members to build and maintain a robust knowledge repository.
Implements and leads the testing of digital assets. Coordinates testing and reporting on the accessibility of websites, forms, electronic documents, and applications to meet accessibility standards. Advise project teams on fixing issues identified in audit reports.
Advises internal teams on implementing accessibility steps into their processes and addressing accessibility issues identified in manual and automated accessibility testing.
Assists the Digital Service Manager with efforts to establish and manage accessibility best practices, standards and guidelines, and policy within the company digital initiatives. Assists in establishing in a leadership position as it relates to accessibility and usability of information technology.
Assist the Digital Service Manager in developing and maintaining standards and policies that evolve along with the maturity of the digital accessibility program.
Assists in raising awareness of accessibility including serving on workgroups, providing training, and providing technical assistance to plan, implement and monitor accessibility of digital resources.
Promotes accessibility within the organization and advocates for accessibility as a vital part of the customer and employee experience.
Assists in creating a communication plan to alert and engage employees of their role and responsibility for accessible digital content and services.
Identify and/or develop appropriate checkpoints to allow oversight and governance activities that ensure that digital content and services procured, designed, built, tested, and maintained by the company are meeting accessibility best practices, standards, and policies.
Research and implement industry best practices, standards and guidelines, and legislation as it relates to accessibility. This includes, but is not limited to, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Title II, and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
Maintain a solid knowledge of current developments in accessibility and technology including policies, procedures, standards, and objectives as they relate to legislation, Information Technology Policies, Executive Orders, and Memoranda of Understandings. Identify gaps or conflicts with such and make recommendations.
Anticipate problems and identify and evaluate potential sources of information to generate alternatives and solve problems where precedents do not exist.
Complete all work in a timely manner, following department standards and policies, with few errors and to the satisfaction of the customer.
Communicate, explain, and defend ideas and information clearly and adapt to the audience’s level of knowledge.
Keep current with emerging content related web technologies.
Work cooperatively with team members.
Perform other related duties as required.

Qualifications and Requirements:

Working knowledge of the Web principals of accessibility, usability and user experience, Information Architecture, along with Web basics and best practices. Experience applying expertise in information architecture, search engine optimization, usability, user experience and accessibility to handle the day-to-day management, editing and quality control of text, images, and other content on an organization's website.
A minimum of one year’s experience supporting multi-layered Websites for an organization.
Knowledge and understanding of state and national accessibility laws and standards for digital resources including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) requirements and Plain Language laws.
Thorough understanding of Accessibility issues and standards to ensure compliance with WCAG 2.1 A and AA standards and regulations.
Ability to use various testing software including WAVE toolbar, ARC Toolkit, Accessibility Insights for Web, WebAIM Contrast Checker, and others. Experience testing with assistive technologies like JAWS, Dragon Naturally Speaking and ZoomText.
Ability to perform content/software/application testing including developing test scripts and working with developers to resolve issues.
Experience in researching industry practices and benchmark information. Ability to gather, assemble, correlate, and analyze facts; to devise solutions to problems; and to prepare concise reports.
Skill in planning and facilitating meetings, working in teams, and group problem solving. Knowledge of the principles and practices of effective project leadership.
Exceptional written and oral communication and organizational skills. Ability to organize and present information in a clear, concise manner.
Ability to analyze and solve complex and difficult problems. Identify problems; determine accuracy and relevance of information; use sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives and make recommendations.
Proven ability to prioritize information and manage and complete assignments within deadlines and with attending to detail.
Practical experience with Web project management, information architecture, usability, content management and user-centered design principles.
Ability to manage multiple projects in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment.
Excellent attention to detail; ability to review moderately complex information from multiple sources and determine relevant information to a given situation.
Ability to provide outstanding customer service by; anticipating and assessing customers' needs and identifying products and/or services to meet their needs, resolving complex or non-routine problems, questions, or complaints; listening to, understanding, and respecting customers and recognizing potential miscommunications.
Skill in applying principles/methods to ensure that policies, directives, and guidelines are followed.
Ability to logically identify alternatives to solve complex or sensitive problems
Proven ability to build consensus and work effectively within a cross-departmental team.

Minimum Experience, Training, and Certifications:

One year of experience that demonstrates:

identifying and/or applying applicable leading organizational accessibility practices based on research or other approaches.
developing organizational accessibility policies, strategies, and/or guidance.
advising organizational management on opportunities to enhance areas of accessibility.

Training:

Completion of the W3C Digital Accessibility Foundations - Introduction to Web Accessibility online course or comparable training course is a plus.

Certifications:

Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS), Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), and Accessible Document Specialist (ADS) certifications from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) are a plus.