Principal Accessibility Specialist

Designing a digital public service used by everyone, every day

​Happy New Year to you!

Always making a New Year resolution to look for a new role but never press send?

Well it’s time you take a chance on yourself and bag a new career @ the BBC.

Embrace your workplace purpose with us.

Are you passionate about world-leading accessibility and usability in the digital world? 
Do you want to work for a digital organisation that is ‘Accessible First’?
Have you got experience working as an advanced accessibility specialist in User Experience and Design and ready to coach colleagues in the implementation of accessibility best practices?

If you answered yes to all the above, then we have an exciting opportunity for you!

We need a Principal/Lead Accessibility Specialist to lead on Accessibility work in the BBC’s digital audience-facing accessibility team.

Our vision is to ensure BBC’s digital products, services and digital environments are accessible and useable to everyone, by removing barriers and facilitating inclusion.

As part of the BBC’s digital accessibility team, you will work across BBC products to help teams build accessibility expertise and embed accessibility into the user experience and design process. You will be consulting with product teams on accessible design while championing accessibility with a goal to making it sustainable and part of everything we do.
Role Responsibility

Hi! We're the BBC User Experience team.

We think this is an amazing opportunity and here's why.

The BBC develops some of the UK’s most well-known and loved digital products. Our mission is to define an Accessible/digital first BBC that delivers on its inform, educate and entertain pillars, delivering real value to the the whole of the UK and beyond. 

It is an exciting time to join the team as we’ve ambitious goals.
Our Story: 

BBC has continued to champion accessibility through a variety for products such as iPlayer and the accessible Standard Media Player used across all products, BBC Weather mobile apps, the BBC Mobile Accessibility Guidelines, and accessible games for children.

The BBC pioneered in-vision sign interpretation in 1957, then in 1974 we rolled out Ceefax TVs first closed caption service.

Then came W3/ integrated audio description/ bi-media production that enabled Accessibility experiences for the visually impaired on BBC News, Sport, Weather, Current Affairs, Live and Music.
You and your role: 

As a User Experience and Design principal specialising in accessibility, you will:

Drive accessibility and inclusive design across products by working with colleagues in design, engineering and other teams across the digital portfolio to ensure all our users have an equitable experience across the BBC’s world-leading products, such as iPlayer, Sounds, BBC News, BBC Sports and Children’s.
Ensure accessibility is a priority in user experience and design processes, advocating that this focus continues throughout the Product lifecycle and is embedded into every product roadmap, process and standard.
Provide consultancy support for Product teams and help them troubleshoot accessibility design issues. This will include coaching teams on preventing future issues occurring by clarifying the root cause and building accessibility standards into the design and development process.
Promote best practice, through supporting the development of internal training and occasional presentations at external conferences on behalf of the BBC.

 
On a typical day you can expect to: 

Provide feedback and critique on accessibility and inclusion in design reviews and help teams document accessibility requirements in designs.
Help teams include people with disabilities early in the design process through activities such as inclusive user research, usability testing, and design workshops.
Build relationships with audience-facing product teams and help them plan and execute accessibility roadmaps to support making their products accessible and usable.
Help define, document and enhance internal policies and guidelines for accessibility including, for example, the BBC Global Experience Language design guidelines and internal accessibility guidelines.
Work with the accessibility change lead, principal software engineer and accessibility champion network to develop a robust culture of accessibility and inclusive design across Product and Technology divisions.
Work with multi-disciplinary teams across the BBC to ensure they are using the BBC’s Global Experience Language and other accessibility guidelines and frameworks.
Stay up to date with new developments in inclusive design and trends around accessibility from the wider accessibility industry, vendors and platforms and communicate these within the BBC.
Help support the delivery of accessibility training to colleagues and foster external relationships across the accessibility industry.
Contribute articles or content on accessibility to BBC’s Global Experience Language, Accessibility for Products and the BBC blog.

 
Are you the right candidate?

Demonstrable passion about ensuring the BBC is truly accessible and useable for all our audiences, regardless of disability.
You have a thorough understanding of digital accessibility regulations, WCAG 2.1 Level AA, web technologies and accessibility evaluation tools and frameworks.
You are proactive, able to juggle a diverse and changing workload and are highly collaborative.
You have excellent interpersonal and influencing skills and are comfortable engaging and influencing change at all levels of an organisation with an unfaltering passion for digital accessibility and inclusion.

Package Description

 
Check out our BBC Values here

Band: D
Contract type: Permanent
Location: London OR Salford OR Newcastle OR Cardiff OR Glasgow

If based in one of the other regional offices (outside of London) you'll be expected to visit the London team on a monthly basis 

An employer pension contribution of up to 10%.
Annual leave 26 days, (based on your working pattern 1 of which is a corporation day) + bank holidays of course with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.
Family friendly flexible working arrangements, such as hybrid working, job sharing, flexi-time and compressed hours.
Learning and development tailored to your role this could include industry recognised qualifications, coaching and mentoring.
An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join staff networks including: Women’s Network, National Disability Networks and many more.

This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their BBC office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post.

What to expect

Stage 1: Application

You will be asked to attach your CV and can submit a supporting statement outlining how your skills, experience and achievements align with the essential criteria below and provide evidence of your suitability for the role.

You’ll fill out some eligibility criteria as well.

Guestimation time for application ≤ 10 mins.

Stage 2: Interview

If you’re successful and make it through to interview, you’ll be invited to a video interview via Zoom. There, you will be assessed against the criteria listed in ‘Are you the right candidate?’ section.

You will also be assessed on strengths/competency based questions.

Stage 3: Offer

If we have more successful candidates than roles then a reserve list may be held for a period of 3 months from which further appointments can be made.

#LI-ME1
About the BBC

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity. 

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.

To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here