Digital Accessibility Expert

Job Title: Digital Accessibility Expert

Location: Hartford, CT/REMOTE

Duration: 6+ Months

This is Us. The State of Connecticut is leading a new digital transformation to uplift the lives and well-being of our residents, businesses, and employees. Our goal is to improve access to our programs and services, making interaction with government easier. When you join the Connecticut Digital Service, you’ll be part of a team creating simple experiences personalized for everyone. If you enjoy solving complex problems with a curious, supportive, high-performing team, then the State of Connecticut is the place for you.

• Problem Solver. You are comfortable navigating bureaucracy to address wicked problems.
• Iterative. You understand and accept the value of incremental improvement.
• Service-Oriented. You are passionate about government innovation and improving services for your fellow residents.

The State of Connecticut (CT) is seeking a Digital Accessibility Expert who has strong experience in assessing, strategizing, and implementing a11y and usability improvements for digital products and services. You will help identify issues, assess solutions, and provide remediation needs across service verticals that include health, business, education, transportation, employment, IT, and Customer Service. You will also help test digital assets for a11y compliance, including websites, mobile apps, online documents, applications, and digital forms.

Your expertise will help the state reach the highest levels of WCAG compliance and maintain a11y standards so all our residents can participate in equivalent experiences.

This role will require a deep familiarity with the requirements and processes for complying with current and future accessibility guidelines as documented in WCAG, ADA, and Section 508 standards. This role will also help support a holistic approach to accessibility improvements to foster a stronger culture of human-centered and user-first design. You will audit internal systems, platforms, and processes for legacy issues.

You will also support cross-functional teams in applying modern a11y improvements to products and services, including Content, UX, Design, and Product teams. You will assist in training teams to conform to WCAG 2.2 standards for digital assets and information. And you will engage stakeholders to help drive implementation and advocacy for a11y best practices.

The ideal candidate will also champion customer needs by promoting the humanity behind inclusionary practices. You will be an empathic problem-solver who can move teams toward higher standards while staying focused on the impact your efforts will have on the people who need government services. This is a next level opportunity. Your work will change lives.

NOTE:

This is a testing-heavy role. Auditing and testing of digital assets are a core requirement of this position.

• Conduct testing and implement improvements to digital products, services, and processes to ensure the State is meeting the highest standards of accessibility compliance.
• Be a bridge between a11y leadership and state teams, helping to integrate a practice of inclusionary methodologies and enterprise standards.
• Assist with code review and remediation, helping developers and engineers quickly apply best practice solutions for critical usability issues.

• Audit current State systems, internal processes, and customer-facing assets to find accessibility issues, and create prioritization models and project plans for addressing.
• Clearly summarize accessibility findings and provide recommendations for remediation, including code-level recommendations and solutions.
• Evaluate new vendor products for compliance with accessibility standards, and help improve the State procurement process for technology and digital services.
• Utilize and interpret multiple sources of research data to make credible recommendations for accessibility improvements.

• Document current levels of State compliance, rank the compliance level against standardized benchmarks, and create reports that identify State gaps and violations by platform, service, process, asset type, and customer journey touchpoints.
• Align with State Accessibility leadership to help support the roadmap, vision, and strategy for enterprise digital accessibility.

• Support accessibility initiatives that foster environments where everyone can thrive, including employees, along the full range of neurodiversity.
• Collaborate with internal and external partners to identify needs and incorporate best practice policies for accessibility.
• Work with Legal and Legislative teams to align accessibility guidance with State regulatory policies.
• Assist Accessibility and project teams with management activities related to accessibility requirements (tracking deliverables and tasks, documentation, asset/artifact management, etc.).
• Provide compliance guidance for the creation of visual media assets, and…