SO# 434 Web Accessibility Specialist

The resource(s) covered under this SO will support the:
The Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT) Digital Services team in its effort to ensure that all City websites web applications and digital services are fully accessible to residents with disabilities. This work is a core pillar of the City s enterprise-wide digital accessibility program and supports compliance with ADA Title II Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA standards across the City s web presence.

Position overview / Statement of Work
The Accessibility Specialist will be responsible for hands-on testing remediation and ongoing quality assurance of the City s websites and web applications against WCAG 2.1 AA standards. Working full-time at 40 hours per week for 12 months the resource will conduct comprehensive accessibility audits of City web properties work directly with development teams and vendors to remediate identified issues and integrate automated and manual accessibility testing into existing development and deployment workflows. The specialist will also at times review vendor deliverables for accessibility compliance and help educate departmental web teams in adopting accessible design and coding practices. This role works in close coordination with the Accessibility Architect and the OIT Digital Services team to ensure web accessibility efforts align with the City s broader enterprise accessibility governance framework.

Work activities:

• Bring City websites and web applications into compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria utilizing tools such as axe DevTools WAVE Lighthouse Site Improve and assistive technologies (JAWS NVDA).
• Help guide continued development of the City s internal web crawler as it relates to accessibility.
• Collaborate with internal development teams and external vendors to remediate identified accessibility defects providing detailed guidance on compliant HTML ARIA markup keyboard navigation focus management and color contrast.
• Integrate automated accessibility testing into CI/CD pipelines and establish pre-deployment accessibility gates to prevent regressions including configuration of tools such as axe-core pa11y or Lighthouse CI.
• Identify remediate and validate existing City digital documents (PDFs forms reports spreadsheets) for compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA PDF/UA and Section 508 standards using tools such as Adobe Acrobat Pro CommonLook and PAC.

Skills/experience of the assigned staff:
Required

• Minimum 3 years of professional experience in web accessibility testing auditing and remediation for large-scale or enterprise web environments.
• Deep working knowledge of WCAG 2.1 AA/AAA success criteria WAI-ARIA authoring practices Section 508 and ADA Title II requirements as applied to websites and web applications.
• Proficiency in front-end web technologies (HTML5 CSS3 JavaScript) with the ability to read evaluate and recommend fixes to source code for accessibility compliance.
• Hands-on experience with accessibility testing tools (axe DevTools WAVE Lighthouse pa11y) and assistive technologies (JAWS NVDA) for both automated and manual evaluation.

Highly Desired/Preferred

• Experience working in or with government agencies on web accessibility compliance particularly in environments with WordPress
• Familiarity with integrating accessibility checks into CI/CD pipelines (Github Actions) and with defect tracking workflows for accessibility issues.
• IAAP Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) certification DHS Trusted Tester certification or equivalent professional credential.
• Familiarity with inclusive design principles and plain-language content practices for the web.