Senior Accessibility Specialist

Summary

A senior accessibility specialist works with people at a range of role levels to embed accessibility into the output of teams. At this role level, you will:

coach and mentor more junior colleagues

input into accessibility strategy with business areas or teams

create and deliver accessibility training

engage with teams across different levels and capabilities

potentially manage or lead individuals or sub-teams

engage with and contribute to the cross-government accessibility community

Work Activity Components

Title	Details
Involve, synthesise and inform (Level 5)	Synthesises findings, develops insights and presents findings to inform decision making and drive actions.
Acceptance tests (Level 4) UNAN-F	Specifies measurable criteria for the required usability and accessibility of complex systems, products and services. Assists clients/users in defining user experience acceptance tests for complex automated systems, against the measurable criteria.

Behavioural Skills

Title	Details
Attention to Detail	Applying specific quality standards to all tasks undertaken to ensure that deliverables are accurate and complete.
Interacting with People	Establishing relationships, contributing to an open culture and maintaining contacts with people from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Effective, approachable and sensitive communicator in different communities and cultures. Ability to adapt style and approach to meet the needs of different audiences.
Teamwork	Working collaboratively with others to achieve a common goal.

Technical Skills

Title	Details	Depth
Corporate, Industry and Professional Standards	Applying relevant standards, practices, codes, and assessment and certification programmes to the specific organisation or business domain.	Proficient in
Systems Ergonomics and Iterative Design	Iterative methods and techniques to allocate and optimise the division of functions between the human, machine and organisational elements of IT systems and the functions themselves in terms of ergonomic impact. Systematic and iterative design of the physical and cognitive interfaces to create an effective user experience in a software system, product or service with attention paid to variety of locations and access devices employed by users.	Proficient in

Other Skills

Title	Details	Depth
Presentation Techniques	Methods and techniques for delivering effective and accessible presentations, either face-to-face or online within various contexts and to a variety of audiences.	Familiar with
Project Planning and Control Techniques	Methods and techniques associated with planning and monitoring progress of projects.	Familiar with

Training

Title	Details
Information and Data Modelling	Tools and techniques used to investigate, analyse and model the structure, relationships and use of data and information within an organisation.
Human Factors Techniques	Methods and techniques for understanding human needs and limitations and for designing usable, accessible and ergonomically sound systems. Examples: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) approaches and iterative design methods and accessibility. Recognising ever evolving user expectations for use of a variety of access devices and locations and opportunities for environmental savings e.g. reducing office space, travel, etc.
Usability Evaluation Techniques	Methods and techniques for the assessment of IT product usability, accessibility and health and safety throughout the lifecycle of development projects.
Security Awareness	Tools and techniques to help users and employees understand the role they play in helping to combat information security breaches and for IT and security professionals to prevent and mitigate risk.

Professional Development Activity (PDA)

Title	Details	PDA Group
Deputising	Standing in for supervisor or manager on a temporary basis during periods of absence.	Broadening Activities
Job Shadowing and Special Assignments	Undertaking temporary periods or secondments in other roles, particularly those that offer a new perspective on own function or exposure to other environments and cultures.	Broadening Activities
Mentoring	Acting as a mentor, advising those for whom there is no direct responsibility, on matters to do with their job role, career and professional development.	Broadening Activities
Research Assignments	Exploring a topic which is not part of own normal responsibilities and presenting findings to colleagues and/or management	Increasing Knowledge
Gaining Knowledge of Broader IT Issues	Increasing and maintaining currency of knowledge of broader IT issues through reading, attending and participating in seminars or conferences, special studies, temporary assignments etc.	Increasing Knowledge
Participation in Professional Body Affairs	Taking an active part in professional body affairs at branch, specialist group, committee or board level.	Participation in Professional Activities
Negotiating and Influencing	Undertaking learning and practice of negotiating with and influencing others.	Developing Professional Skills
Team Leadership	Undertaking learning and practice of the skills required to lead teams, including motivation, direction, coaching, delegation, appraisal, counselling and developing others.	Developing Professional Skills
Gaining Knowledge of Employing Organisation	Gaining basic knowledge of the employing organisation, its business, structure, culture, policies, products/services, operations and terminology.	Increasing Knowledge

Organisational Skill Name and Description

Framework	Skill	Level
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Communicating information Communication involves conveying information using the most effective medium and language for the audience.	Practitioner Communicating information You can: work collaboratively in a group and build relationships with others identify issues through Agile 'health checks' and work with others to address them manage stakeholder expectations be flexible and capable of proactive and reactive communication host or moderate difficult discussions within the team or with senior stakeholders
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Consultancy Collaboration in the DDaT Profession typically involves working in a multidisciplinary project team, and contributing to working groups and wider professional communities. It requires a broad understanding of the technologies, principles and perspectives of related professions.	Practitioner Consultancy You can: provide advice and recommendations to stakeholders based on your significant specialist knowledge and experience lead the definition of guidance and inform how the organisation approaches delivery
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Governance and assurance (accessibility) Governance and assurance involves defining and ensuring adherence to an organisation's quality control and compliance processes.	Practitioner Governance and assurance (accessibility) You can: challenge teams, make full use of existing arrangements and build strong relationships to reduce or remove risk associated with not meeting accessibility standards
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Leadership and guidance IT infrastructure involves ensuring systems and processes are available, adaptable, reliable and secure.	Practitioner Leadership and guidance You can: make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase build consensus between services or independent stakeholders identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them engage in varying types of feedback, choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision stick bring people together to form a motivated team and help create the right environment for a team to work in facilitate the best team makeup depending on the situation
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Technical understanding (accessibility) Accessibility involves ensuring your service can be used by as many people as possible, including those with impaired vision, motor difficulties, cognitive impairments, learning disabilities and deafness.	Expert Technical understanding (accessibility) You can: demonstrate excellent knowledge of accessibility standards and legislation, including edge cases communicate requirements to a range of stakeholders actively share a deep knowledge of how to select and use appropriate technology (such as ARIA, Accessible Rich Internet Applications) to provide an excellent experience perform detailed audits of websites, services and documents, document findings clearly, and provide solutions for others to work from understand and communicate how usability influences accessibility, and the boundary between them advocate removing barriers across all your interactions provide training on a range of accessibility issues demonstrate confidence using a range of assistive technologies
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	Testing Testing involves ensuring that requirements have been fully met by using appropriate tools and techniques to verify that a product or service works.	Expert Testing You can: manage testing activities within development or integration activities manage risks and take preventative action when risks become unacceptable manage customer relations
Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework	User focus User focus involves understanding the user needs to develop a detailed understanding of the problems that need to be solved.	Practitioner User focus You can: collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user champion user research to focus on all users prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use

Framework

Skill

Level