Digital Accessibility Program Manager

***** IMPORTANT ***** * You must be eligible to work in the U.S. without sponsorship (U.S. citizens or green card holders only) * You must live within commuting distance of downtown Columbus, Ohio About Us Franklin County Data Center is a professional technology services firm dedicated to providing cost-effective, business-driven, collaborative, and secure IT solutions to public service agencies in Ohio’s most dynamic county. Our goals are simple, but expansive: to be the most trusted enterprise technology service provider for Franklin County and a national leader in digital government services. Every day our team empowers local government agencies and teams to deliver top-notch services to residents and businesses in central Ohio, and we take pride in the work they accomplish. The Government Experience (GX) Foundry team designs, builds, buys, and sustains digital products for Franklin County colleagues and residents that build trust in government services, intentions, and competence one human-centered experience at a time. Our Digital Accessibility team (new in 2026) will actively develop and deploy accessibility knowledge, strategy, consulting, skills, and tools to peer teams and to partner agencies across the county. Our goal is to help Franklin County live up to its highest aspiration—“Every resident, every day”—by digitally meeting all citizens where they are, regardless of ability. Job Summary The Digital Accessibility Program Manager (DAPM), working within Franklin County Data Center, serves as the county's primary subject matter expert on digital accessibility. The DAPM provides county-wide leadership and hands-on support to help agencies and their teams achieve and sustain compliance with ADA Title II accessibility regulations across websites, applications, documents, apps, social media, and other digital content and interactive platforms. Functioning as an internal consultant and program strategist, this role partners with agencies, digital content creators, legal advisors, and procurement leaders to build the skills, processes, and infrastructure needed to make digital government services consistently accessible to all Franklin County residents. The role combines technical accessibility expertise with change management, stakeholder engagement, training, and project coordination—operating with broad autonomy to define and advance the county's accessibility practices. Ideal candidates will have strong project and program management skills, staff leadership skills, and the ability to work collaboratively across a diverse collection of teams. Essential Duties and Responsibilities Program Leadership & Governance - Design, implement, and continuously improve a county-wide digital accessibility program aligned with ADA Title II regulations and current WCAG models. - Develop and maintain accessibility standards documentation, including a multi-year compliance roadmap comprised of prioritized consulting efforts, content assessments, remediation, and county-wide staff capacity development. Priority should be applied in a framework that mitigates or eliminates the most impactful barriers to public service first. - Define program metrics, KPIs, OKRs, and reporting approaches that will deliver regular status and progress reports to technical, legal, and county leaders. - Manage accessibility grievances and complaints from intake through final resolution, maintaining complete documentation. - Monitor regulatory developments and advise leadership on evolving requirements, enforcement trends, and best practices. Shared Services Consulting & Advisory - Serve as the primary accessibility consultant to all county agencies and departments — advising on requirements, risk exposure, and remediation strategies. - Ensure staff (or contractors) conduct accessibility readiness assessments for partner agencies and teams as needed, identifying compliance gaps across web content, documents, applications, multimedia, and other interactive technologies. - Advise on accessibility implications of new technology initiatives, product launches, and system migrations prior to implementation. - Collaborate with staff and peers to ensure agency teams and relevant technology vendors are addressing accessibility requirements over time, tracking progress and escalating unresolved issues. Compliance Assessment & Auditing - Prioritize and coordinate with staff and/or contractors to conduct accessibility audits using automated tools (axe, WAVE) and perform manual testing or validation with assistive technologies (JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, keyboard navigation). - Work with staff and/or contractors to develop formal audit reports with documented findings, severity ratings, prioritized recommendations, and timelines. - Evaluate vendor-provided Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs/VPATs) for accuracy and adequacy. - Oversee an ongoing monitoring program to assess and track accessibility status across the county's digital portfolio. Remediation Planning & Coordination - Direct prioritization of remediation efforts in collaboration with agency stakeholders, IT teams, and vendors; oversee remediation coordination and progress tracking alongside staff, contractors, and partner agency teams. - Establish guidelines and provide technical specifications for documents, templates, and digital content. - Establish and maintain accessible document templates and content standards to prevent recurrence of accessibility barriers. Training & Capacity Building - Design accessibility training programs tailored to diverse audiences, either through direct action or through staff or contractors. Audiences may include digital content editors, developers, communications staff, procurement officers, and senior leaders. - Maintain an index or library of training resources including formal paid training, free resources, videos, user guides, and other self-service resources for county staff. - Create and lead Communities of Practice around digital accessibility matters and identify agency accessibility champions to participate in the communities and build distributed, sustainable competence across the county. Vendor & Procurement Oversight - Collaborate with procurement and legal teams to guide assessment of accessibility provisions in technology contracts, RFPs, and vendor agreements; recommend enforceable accessibility requirements and acceptance criteria. - Evaluate VPAT documents (or equivalents) and direct independent verification testing as needed for current and/or future digital platform acquisitions; track vendor remediation commitments and escalate failures through appropriate channels. - Maintain a registry of assessed (or “approved”) tools and platforms documenting accessibility status to inform future procurement decisions. Additional Responsibilities - Recommend and oversee outsourcing of assessment, remediation, and consulting work to third-party contractors as needed. - NOTE: This is a new role and function within FCDC and Franklin County (in 2026), and as such making build-vs.-buy tradeoff choices will be necessary when it comes to (a) directly performing work, (b) delegating work to staff or contractors, or (c) deferring work until resources are available. - Maintain close working ties with peer teams within FCDC (e.g. GX Concourse, GX Development) and tap into their resources to magnify the impact of your work. - Other duties as assigned FCDC BENEFITS - Medical, Dental, Vision and Behavioral Health, and Prescription Drug Coverage - Employee Assistance Program - Disability and Life Insurance - Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) - Deferred Compensation - Generous Paid Time Off Accrual - Eleven Paid Holidays - Tuition Reimbursement - Company-Paid Training and Development - Commuter Program The Franklin County Data Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer.