Senior Accessibility Specialist

The Elsevier Digital Accessibility Team is seeking an experienced accessibility specialist to grow our accessibility program in the UK region. We are a world-class team of experts in accessibility serving researchers, scientists, and clinicians across the globe. We serve as the voice of accessibility in global information analytics and publishing company where accessibility is embraced with empathy and executive support. This position is a 1-year contract with the possibility of extension and/or conversion to full-time employment.

The Senior Accessibility Specialist will be responsible for guiding product teams in digital accessibility. The Sr. Accessibility Specialist will coach in all phases of the software development cycle: design, development, testing, and will verify compliance to WCAG and other accessibility standards. The ideal candidate will be able to evangelize accessibility best practice in a way which helps other teams integrate accessibility into their ways of working.

This individual will recommend accessible best practices for digital content including web pages, mobile applications, emails, presentations, multimedia, PDFs, and other commonly used digital file-types for WCAG compliance.

Responsibilities
• Author VPAT/Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) against W3C WCAG 2.2 AA standards.
• Troubleshoots user accessibility issues, guiding product teams to solutions and coaching on appropriate testing tools.
• Author detailed specifications for remediating websites, mobile applications, and PDFs to meet the W3C WCAG 2.2 A standards.
• Work with core team developers and UX to test, steer, and validate designs and code to accessibility standards.
• Author product accessibility statements.
• Develop creative ways to educate staff on how to create more accessible content including documents, emails, presentations, and communications.
• Plan, conduct, and summarize usability testing with people who experience disability.
• Forge and sustain long-term accessibility collaborations with various product teams.

Requirements
• 3+ years in authoring high quality VPATs/ACRs for enterprise web applications.
• Expert knowledge of how to recommend WCAG 2.2 techniques around websites and digital content.
• Rich experience using accessibility testing tools (WAVE, aXe, Microsoft Insights, Color Contrast Analyzer) and with screen readers (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver).
• High degree of initiative and autonomy coupled with an ability to function successfully as part of a virtual team.
• Generosity in sharing knowledge, skills, and positive attitude in mentoring people to learn accessibility concepts.
• Experience with conducting usability and accessibility end user research.

Preferred Qualifications:
• IAAP Web Accessibility Specialist Certification or US DHS 508 Trusted Tester Certification.
• Previous roles or degree(s) in fields of Digital Accessibility, User Experience, Digital Design, or Software Engineering.
• Expert knowledge of and mobile application accessibility testing and techniques.
• Wide experience with user interface design patterns including rich internet applications, single page web applications, and AI / chatbots.
• Applicants will be required to submit a work sample of an accessibility audit, ACR

Hourly rate range: £37.50 - £53.12