Sr. Digital Accessibility Engineer - Telecommute

The Accessibility Center of Excellence (A11y CoE) seeks energetic, motivated and resourceful individuals to join our growing team. The A11y CoE serves the UnitedHealth Group enterprise (Optum and UnitedHealthcare), providing guidance, training and talent to product teams as they build solutions that ensure everyone can access and use Optum and UHC products.
As a senior digital accessibility engineer, you will continue to progress skills learned and practiced as a digital accessibility engineer. In addition, you will collaborate with A11y CoE leadership to promote the need for accessible products and services across the enterprise. You will educate and train product teams on specific accessibility requirements and the use of tools that teams can use to incorporate accessibility early in the product development lifecycle.
With the opportunity to serve as a member of the Accessibility Council, you will leverage prior experience to constantly evaluate and recommend improvements to the accessibility processes, our tools and training materials. You will actively contribute in one or more working groups for standards, research, tools development or other accessibility resources to help mature the practice of accessibility within the company and promote a culture of inclusive design, using best in class accessibility tools and techniques.

To be successful, you must show empathy towards people with disabilities, have a passion for helping to make products better for everyone, have a curious, inquisitive mind and self-awareness with an interest in continuing to improve your people and technical skills and be able to share your knowledge and talent with team members and clients by providing training and mentoring.
You’ll enjoy the flexibility to telecommute* from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.
Primary Responsibilities:
Under the guidance of Accessibility Center of Excellence leadership, collaborate with product teams across the enterprise to promote the need for accessible products and services.
Serve as the lead on client projects, providing direction to and mentoring digital accessibility engineers and Grow Your Own program participants, reporting status updates to project team leadership and Accessibility Center of Excellence leadership, and handling any issues that arise regarding talent, timelines and deliverables.
Participate on the Accessibility Council, researching and documenting best practices for usability and accessibility, documenting and sharing use cases to help promote accessibility best practices, helping to market the council and promote decisions made to peers and clients.
Assess and validate Optum and UHC digital properties to ensure that they comply with WCAG.
Perform accessibility assessments. May include web pages, desktop applications, mobile applications and documents, such as PDFs, PPTs, etc., with the (preferred) ability to assess and remediate PDF, Word and other documents so they confirm to current standards, including WCAG and PDF/UA.
Document assessment results via available reporting templates and tools.
Write Rally or Jira user stories based on the standard accessibility user story template and following guidelines in place.
Present findings to internal product teams and external clients, educating teams on specific accessibility requirements and the use of available tools to proactively include accessibility early in the lifecycle.
Identify accessibility issues of visual and interactive designs, promoting the use of accessible design pattern library components and use of tools to improve the accessibility of designs.
Research and stay aware of new development frameworks for the purpose of assisting developers in creating accessible products.
Support the A11y CoE by researching and writing posts for the Accessibility and A11y Forum sites on Hub Connect in partnership with A11y CoE team members.
Write curriculum and lead accessibility training for peers and clients.
Apply HTML, CSS, JavaScript and ARIA knowledge to digital properties as part of client engagements and governance processes.
Identify new opportunities to support and contribute to the growth of the A11y CoE.
Present to internal customers verbally, on video, and in a well-written and well-spoken manner
Serve as an “Accessibility Ambassador”
You'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:
BA/BS in information technology, information design, computer science, human computer interaction (HCI), instructional design, quality assurance, assistive technology or related field, or equivalent industry training and experience.
8+ years of experience working in a fast-paced and highly collaborative development environment with experience in large, complex software or web applications.
5+ years of experience with WCAG.
5+ years of experience working as a Digital Accessibility Engineer
5+ years of experience with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Advanced knowledge of user-centered design principles and tools.
Solid understanding of Agile development methodology.
Experience writing reusable frontend code for modern frameworks such as Angular, Backbone, etc.).
Knowledge of Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines and specifications.
Advanced understanding of how to use design pattern libraries for client products.
Advanced knowledge of assistive technology and accessibility-related software, including JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, ZoomText, Dragon NaturallySpeaking or other speech recognition software.
Self-motivated with a desire to improve products for people with disabilities.
Mastery of working collaboratively and productively both with diverse teams and independently.
Advanced soft skills and mastery of working with teams who may not have any understanding of inclusive design or accessibility.
Must be exert level communicator both written and verbal skills and ability to solve problems for customers and find “win-win” solutions.
Proven organizational and multi-tasking skills.
Proven communication skills, both verbal and written, including the ability to sell ideas with strong negotiation skills.
Proven presentation skills to peers, clients and executives and to external audiences at conferences, via webinars and for educational institutions.
Proven ability to learn from and accept feedback from others
If you need to enter a work site for any reason, you will be required to screen for symptoms using the ProtectWell mobile app, Interactive Voice Response (i.e., entering your symptoms via phone system) or a similar UnitedHealth Group-approved symptom screener. Employees must comply with any state and local masking orders. In addition, when in a UnitedHealth Group building, employees are expected to wear a mask in areas where physical distancing cannot be attained.
Technology Careers with Optum . Information and technology have amazing power to transform the health care industry and improve people's lives. This is where it's happening. This is where you'll help solve the problems that have never been solved. We're freeing information so it can be used safely and securely wherever it's needed. We're creating the very best ideas that can most easily be put into action to help our clients improve the quality of care and lower costs for millions. This is where the best and the brightest work together to make positive change a reality. This is the place to do your life's best work.(sm)

*All Telecommuters will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy.
Colorado Residents Only: The salary range for Colorado residents is $79,700 to $142,600. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. As of the date of this posting, In addition to your salary, UHG offers the following benefits for this position, subject to applicable eligibility requirements: Health, dental, and vision plans; wellness program; flexible spending accounts; paid parking or public transportation costs; 401(k) retirement plan; employee stock purchase plan; life insurance, short-term disability insurance, and long-term disability insurance; business travel accident insurance; Employee Assistance Program; PTO; and employee-paid critical illness and accident insurance.
Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.

Job Keywords: Sr. Digital Accessibility Engineer, Telecommute, Telecommuter, work from home, work at home, remote, telecommuting, Eden Prairie, MN, Minnesota