Accessibility Automation Engineer

The Digital Accessibility Automation Engineer is responsible for advancing accessibility across digital products through engineering-led, scalable automation solutions. This role focuses on embedding accessibility validation into automated testing frameworks and CI/CD pipelines to enable continuous monitoring, early defect detection, and regression prevention across client-facing digital channels—including websites, mobile apps, and other digital platforms that serve as key customer touchpoints. This role emphasizes accessibility automation at scale, including Axe Monitor transactional scripting, Selenium integration, and CI/CD enablement across enterprise digital platforms. Key Responsibilities: - Partner with design, product, and engineering teams to ensure accessibility is built into digital experiences from ideation through delivery. - Provide technical expertise on accessible implementation patterns using semantic HTML and WAI-ARIA. - Conduct accessibility testing using automated and targeted manual approaches aligned to WCAG 2.2. - Design, implement, and maintain accessibility automation at scale using Deque Axe Monitor. - Script and execute transactional accessibility test scripts (e.g., authentication, search, booking, checkout flows) executed by Axe Monitor. - Integrate automated accessibility checks into Selenium-based automation frameworks. - Embed accessibility validation into CI/CD pipelines to support shift-left and continuous testing strategies. - Monitor accessibility trends, regressions, and risk across applications and environments using automated reporting and dashboards. - Analyze automated scan results to distinguish true accessibility defects from false positives. - Partner with engineering and test teams to troubleshoot automation failures and guide remediation. - Maintain reusable, reliable automation scripts and frameworks that scale across products and teams. - Clearly communicate technical findings and recommendations to engineering, test, and product stakeholders. Program Leadership & Strategy: - Lead execution of the digital accessibility roadmap, with a strong emphasis on automation-first enforcement. - Translate accessibility goals into repeatable, automated validations that reduce manual testing effort and compliance risk. - Coordinate automation milestones across Product, Engineering, and QA, aligning accessibility automation with release schedules. - Monitor accessibility maturity using automation-driven KPIs (coverage, regressions prevented, time-to-fix). Hands-On Accessibility Expertise: - Conduct targeted manual accessibility testing to validate automated findings, cover gaps automation cannot detect (cognitive, usability, AT behavior), and evaluate experiences against WCAG 2.2 AA, ADA, Section 508, EAA using assistive technologies as needed. - Provide engineering-ready remediation guidance, including code-level recommendations. - Validate fixes via automated reruns and regression testing prior to release. Collaboration & Enablement: - Partner with Engineering, test, and DevOps teams to embed accessibility automation into existing pipelines and align functional and accessibility testing strategies. - Mentor teams on writing accessibility-friendly UI code, interpreting Axe results, and fixing issues efficiently. - Act as a technical liaison with Deque and other tooling partners. Governance & Compliance: - Ensure compliance with WCAG 2.2 AA and EAA through continuous automated monitoring. - Maintain and evolve automation standards, accessibility test patterns, and CI/CD accessibility gates. - Support vendor and third-party evaluations by assessing automation readiness and accessibility risk. Reporting & Insight: - Produce automation-driven reporting including accessibility coverage by product, regressions caught pre-release, and trends over time from Axe Monitor. - Communicate results clearly to engineering leaders and executives, focusing on risk reduction and velocity gains. Must-Have Skills: - 5+ years of experience in digital accessibility with a strong automation and engineering focus. - Expert knowledge of WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 and WAI-ARIA, including deep understanding of automatable success criteria. - Strong understanding of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, including modern SPA behavior. - Hands-on experience with Deque Axe Monitor, including configuration, execution, and maintenance of transactional scripts. - Strong experience with Deque Axe DevTools for rule validation, debugging, and pre-Monitor testing. - Proven experience integrating accessibility automation into Selenium-based test frameworks. - Ability to write, maintain, and troubleshoot transactional automation scripts executed at scale. - Experience integrating accessibility automation into CI/CD pipelines (e.g., Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps). - Strong debugging skills related to flaky automation, selectors, timing issues, and dynamic content. - Experience working with version control systems (Git) and enterprise automation practices. - Excellent technical communication skills with engineering and test teams. - Must be local to Houston or Chicago and willing to work in a hybrid environment. Requirements: 1) Accessibility background: WCAG 2.x knowledge, ability to use screen readers and a11y testing tools to verify output or help improve scripts. 2) Scripting experience: Ability to write clean, maintainable YAML files for complex scanning rules using VS Code or other IDEs; using CSS selectors or XPath to include or exclude specific components from a scan. 3) CI/CD experience: Experience with GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, or Azure DevOps; plus experience with Axe DevTools/Linter. 4) Proficiency in modern automation frameworks: Selenium/Node.js/JavaScript; ability to write scripts that allow the monitor to log in and navigate complex flows. 5) Data analysis & reporting: Distinguishing between critical blockers and minor UI polish; produce reports from all data; using axe-monitor API to export results into dashboards like JIRA.