Job summary
As senior accessibility specialist, you will lead on our approach to delivering inclusive, usable, accessible services to NHSBSA staff, the wider NHS workforce, and the general public.
You will have a key role implementing our digital accessibility strategy, working with colleagues at a range of levels to embed accessibility into the output of our teams. You will have strong knowledge of accessibility best practice, relevant legislation, and testing tools; to ensure users are well represented across our products and websites, and so that we, as an organisation, remain at the forefront of accessible public services. You will be confident in planning and organising complex activities, providing consultancy, leading stakeholders, and product teams with industry standard accessibility practices to continually ensure the best possible experience for all. Leading on the evaluation of current and future technologies, with experience of user testing and technical testing, so that senior stakeholders can plan roadmaps accordingly.
What do we offer?
- 27 days leave (increasing with length of service) plus 8 bank holidays
- Flexible working (we are happy to discuss options such as compressed hours)
- Flexi time
- Hybrid working model (we are currently working largely remotely)
- Career development
- Active wellbeing and inclusion networks
- Excellent pension
- NHS Car lease scheme
- Access to a wide range of benefits and high street discounts!
Main duties of the job
Governance and assurance (accessibility). You can take complex information around accessibility, and lead on formulating training provision and materials regarding standards and awareness of accessibility compliance that are clear and targeted to audiences with varying levels of specialist knowledge.Monitor, lead and keep abreast of any legislation changes and updates. Formulate and adjust plans and strategies in line with these changes, ensuring compliance.Technical understanding (accessibility). You can demonstrate excellent knowledge of complex accessibility standards and legislation, including edge cases
About us
At the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) we deliver a range of essential national services to NHS organisations and contractors, patients and the public.
You may already be using some of our services. Do you have a prescription pre-payment certificate? Perhaps you found this vacancy through NHS Jobs? We're behind these, and much more.
Being one of the UK's Best Big Companies to work for, our values are to be Collaborative, Adventurous, Reliable and Energetic. We CARE about what we do and support each other in achieving our objectives. Our people are the heart of our organisation. We strive to ensure they feel trusted, valued and empowered. We're passionate about nurturing and developing people. When you join us, we want you to grow, and we offer many opportunities for you to do that.
We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds. With wellbeing and inclusion central to our ethos, our BAME, Disability and Neurodiversity, LGBTQ+, Armed Forces and Women's networks help our colleagues to be their authentic selves at work.
At the NHSBSA we value and respect the diversity of our colleagues and are committed to being a flexible employer. We are proud to offer flexible working opportunities. Whether you're interested in hybrid working, working from home, flexible hours or job sharing, apply today and we can discuss available options with you at the interview stage.
We are the NHS delivering for the NHS.
Job description
Job responsibilities
In this role, you are accountable for:1. Communicating information. You will be able to lead and work collaboratively in a group, building relationships with senior leaders and professional leads. You can identify complex facts, situations and issues requiring analysis and interpretation through Agile 'health checks', and work with others to compare and decide upon a range of options to address them. You can manage stakeholder expectations. You can be flexible and capable of proactive and reactive communication, selecting appropriate methods to persuade and motivate where necessary to secure agreement or cooperation from others. You can work independently, lead on conversations and design and run training workshops to advise/coach the importance of inclusion, this will be with senior leaders across the organisation, including large specialist and non-specialist audiences.2. Consultancy. Monitor, lead and keep abreast of any legislation changes and updates. Formulate and adjust plans and strategies in line with these changes, ensuring compliance. This will involve significant influence and negotiation with senior stakeholders to influence product roadmaps/ You can analyse and interpret complex changes and developments in accessibility and use this to confidently provide advice and recommendations to senior stakeholders based on your significant specialist knowledge and experience. You can lead the definition of guidance and inform how the organisation approaches delivery3. Governance and assurance (accessibility). You can take complex information around accessibility, and lead on formulating training provision and materials regarding standards and awareness of accessibility compliance that are clear and targeted to audiences with varying levels of specialist knowledge. You are able to challenge teams, providing assurance via design reviews, You will build strong relationships to reduce or remove risk associated with not meeting accessibility standards. You will lead on the creation and the governance of playbook content to ensure future development of products and services is consistent with legal policy and NHSBSA standards. Working as a member of the accessibility board you will take complex business information and then provide guidance available to all colleagues to protect the organisation by ensuring compliance to legislation.4. Leadership and guidance. You can make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase. You will form these decisions in line with Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2)Accessibility Regulations 2018 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, analysing information provided to form judgements on what needs to be implemented to ensure compliance. You can build consensus between services or independent stakeholders. You can identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and formulate plans or strategies to rectify them in a timely manner. You can engage in varying types of feedback, choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision stick. You can bring people together to form a motivated team and help create the right environment for a team to work in. You can facilitate the best team makeup depending on the situation.5. Technical understanding (accessibility). You can demonstrate excellent knowledge of complex accessibility standards and legislation, including edge cases. You can employ a range of methods to communicate requirements to a variety of stakeholders (including specialists and non-specialists). You can 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. You can perform detailed audits of websites, services and documents, document findings clearly, and provide solutions for others to work from. You can understand and communicate how usability influences accessibility, and the boundary between them. You can advocate removing barriers across all your interactions. You can provide training on a range of accessibility issues. You can demonstrate confidence using a range of assistive technologies.6. Testing. You can manage technical/functional testing activities within development or integration activities, this might be working with professional areas to create standards. You will manage risks and take preventative action when risks become unacceptable, through escalation within the Corporate Inclusion team or key stakeholders.7. User focus. You can collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally. You can explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user, using an analysis of data to support your views. You can champion user research to focus on all users. You can prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so, leading working groups to support this. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use, reflecting on what has worked well internally coupled with emerging tools and methods that you become familiar with via external research and networking. You will be responsible for ensuring your knowledge is current and detailed in the accessibility field, actively taking opportunities to pursue R&D in this field.
In addition to the above accountabilities, as post holder you are expected to:1. Undertake additional duties and responsibilities in line with the overall purpose of your role.2. Demonstrate NHSBSA values and Core Capabilities in all aspects of your work.3. Promote and foster your own and colleagues safety and well-being.4. Contribute to a culture that values diversity and inclusion.5. Comply NHSBSA policies, procedures, and protocols as they apply to your role.
Working relationships
Responsible to: Digital Team Manager, Head of User Centred Design and Lead Delivery Managers
Key relationships and connections:
1. Content Designers2. Service Designers3. Interaction Designers4. Other Designers5. Solution Designers6. Testers7. Developers8. Change Team9. Internal and external clients and customers10. Internal and external Stakeholders11. Delivery Managers12. Head of User Centred Design13. Colleague Experience Team
Job description
Job responsibilities
In this role, you are accountable for:1. Communicating information. You will be able to lead and work collaboratively in a group, building relationships with senior leaders and professional leads. You can identify complex facts, situations and issues requiring analysis and interpretation through Agile 'health checks', and work with others to compare and decide upon a range of options to address them. You can manage stakeholder expectations. You can be flexible and capable of proactive and reactive communication, selecting appropriate methods to persuade and motivate where necessary to secure agreement or cooperation from others. You can work independently, lead on conversations and design and run training workshops to advise/coach the importance of inclusion, this will be with senior leaders across the organisation, including large specialist and non-specialist audiences.2. Consultancy. Monitor, lead and keep abreast of any legislation changes and updates. Formulate and adjust plans and strategies in line with these changes, ensuring compliance. This will involve significant influence and negotiation with senior stakeholders to influence product roadmaps/ You can analyse and interpret complex changes and developments in accessibility and use this to confidently provide advice and recommendations to senior stakeholders based on your significant specialist knowledge and experience. You can lead the definition of guidance and inform how the organisation approaches delivery3. Governance and assurance (accessibility). You can take complex information around accessibility, and lead on formulating training provision and materials regarding standards and awareness of accessibility compliance that are clear and targeted to audiences with varying levels of specialist knowledge. You are able to challenge teams, providing assurance via design reviews, You will build strong relationships to reduce or remove risk associated with not meeting accessibility standards. You will lead on the creation and the governance of playbook content to ensure future development of products and services is consistent with legal policy and NHSBSA standards. Working as a member of the accessibility board you will take complex business information and then provide guidance available to all colleagues to protect the organisation by ensuring compliance to legislation.4. Leadership and guidance. You can make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity and recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase. You will form these decisions in line with Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2)Accessibility Regulations 2018 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, analysing information provided to form judgements on what needs to be implemented to ensure compliance. You can build consensus between services or independent stakeholders. You can identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and formulate plans or strategies to rectify them in a timely manner. You can engage in varying types of feedback, choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision stick. You can bring people together to form a motivated team and help create the right environment for a team to work in. You can facilitate the best team makeup depending on the situation.5. Technical understanding (accessibility). You can demonstrate excellent knowledge of complex accessibility standards and legislation, including edge cases. You can employ a range of methods to communicate requirements to a variety of stakeholders (including specialists and non-specialists). You can 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. You can perform detailed audits of websites, services and documents, document findings clearly, and provide solutions for others to work from. You can understand and communicate how usability influences accessibility, and the boundary between them. You can advocate removing barriers across all your interactions. You can provide training on a range of accessibility issues. You can demonstrate confidence using a range of assistive technologies.6. Testing. You can manage technical/functional testing activities within development or integration activities, this might be working with professional areas to create standards. You will manage risks and take preventative action when risks become unacceptable, through escalation within the Corporate Inclusion team or key stakeholders.7. User focus. You can collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally. You can explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user, using an analysis of data to support your views. You can champion user research to focus on all users. You can prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so, leading working groups to support this. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use, reflecting on what has worked well internally coupled with emerging tools and methods that you become familiar with via external research and networking. You will be responsible for ensuring your knowledge is current and detailed in the accessibility field, actively taking opportunities to pursue R&D in this field.
In addition to the above accountabilities, as post holder you are expected to:1. Undertake additional duties and responsibilities in line with the overall purpose of your role.2. Demonstrate NHSBSA values and Core Capabilities in all aspects of your work.3. Promote and foster your own and colleagues safety and well-being.4. Contribute to a culture that values diversity and inclusion.5. Comply NHSBSA policies, procedures, and protocols as they apply to your role.
Working relationships
Responsible to: Digital Team Manager, Head of User Centred Design and Lead Delivery Managers
Key relationships and connections:
1. Content Designers2. Service Designers3. Interaction Designers4. Other Designers5. Solution Designers6. Testers7. Developers8. Change Team9. Internal and external clients and customers10. Internal and external Stakeholders11. Delivery Managers12. Head of User Centred Design13. Colleague Experience Team
Person Specification
Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Intricate knowledge and expertise of Accessibility standards and legislation and are able to coach, mentor and train colleagues on how to be compliant: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, and WCAG 2.2; Government Digital Service (GDS) Digital Inclusion Agenda 2017; Equality Act 2010; The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018; Cabinet Office Digital Declaration.
- Knowledge of NHS and Government agendas on Digital Inclusion, and their relevance to the delivery of products and services
- Significant knowledge of and passion for user-centred design practices for both public-facing and internal services and applications
- Able to cope in complex environments, prioritise effectively and identify and work within constraints
- Ability to raise awareness of Accessibility across an organisation, working closely with key stakeholders to understand challenges and how they will lead to changes to products and services
- Working knowledge of a range of Accessibility testing tools and browser add-ons
- Thorough knowledge of industry standard screen readers - JAWS, NVDA, Apple VoiceOver
Desirable
- Knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 and its accessibility features
- Knowledge of semantic HTML5 and ARIA
- Knowledge of front end/UI development
- Knowledge of automated software testing for accessibility
- Knowledge and appreciation of user research and user testing with users with additional needs
- Excellent communication skills
Experience
Essential
- Experience of setting and managing an Accessibility Audit Framework
- Significant experience in applying accessibility legislation standards - WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
- Experience understanding relevant legislation and how it must be applied across the organisation and our services
- Experience working in user interface/front end development
- Experience testing user interfaces and documents to assure users can complete tasks
- Experienced in strategic thinking and providing design consulting and leadership in any relevant area. You identify and implement solutions for assisted digital and non-digital users and can influence senior professionals to ensure this is reflected in their delivery plans
- Experience in working effectively with cross-disciplinary teams and ensuring that making design decisions is based on design knowledge, user research and knowing the user journey.
Desirable
- Experience working with communities of practice - leading discussions and fostering a culture of learning
- cussions and fostering a culture of learning 2. Experience in working in an agile/lean development process
- Experience in contributing to "design systems." For example, producing self-service systems for non-Designers, using common patterns, components, and elements.
- Experienced in leading and mentoring staff within and outside your specialism
- Experience in measuring, evaluating and visualising outcomes
- Experience in design using GDS standards
- Experience developing new functionality and services within an online or business.
- Experience contributing to organisation Playbook
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree or significant professional experience working with accessibility in software engineering.
- Evidence of continuous professional development.
Desirable
- Post-Graduate degree or qualification, with relevant skills and focus on Accessibility
- Additional practitioner level qualifications in Design, User Research, or Testing (or equivalent) or related knowledge
- Management and leadership qualification.
Person Specification
Personal Qualities, Knowledge and Skills
Essential
- Intricate knowledge and expertise of Accessibility standards and legislation and are able to coach, mentor and train colleagues on how to be compliant: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - WCAG 2.0, WCAG 2.1, and WCAG 2.2; Government Digital Service (GDS) Digital Inclusion Agenda 2017; Equality Act 2010; The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018; Cabinet Office Digital Declaration.
- Knowledge of NHS and Government agendas on Digital Inclusion, and their relevance to the delivery of products and services
- Significant knowledge of and passion for user-centred design practices for both public-facing and internal services and applications
- Able to cope in complex environments, prioritise effectively and identify and work within constraints
- Ability to raise awareness of Accessibility across an organisation, working closely with key stakeholders to understand challenges and how they will lead to changes to products and services
- Working knowledge of a range of Accessibility testing tools and browser add-ons
- Thorough knowledge of industry standard screen readers - JAWS, NVDA, Apple VoiceOver
Desirable
- Knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 and its accessibility features
- Knowledge of semantic HTML5 and ARIA
- Knowledge of front end/UI development
- Knowledge of automated software testing for accessibility
- Knowledge and appreciation of user research and user testing with users with additional needs
- Excellent communication skills
Experience
Essential
- Experience of setting and managing an Accessibility Audit Framework
- Significant experience in applying accessibility legislation standards - WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
- Experience understanding relevant legislation and how it must be applied across the organisation and our services
- Experience working in user interface/front end development
- Experience testing user interfaces and documents to assure users can complete tasks
- Experienced in strategic thinking and providing design consulting and leadership in any relevant area. You identify and implement solutions for assisted digital and non-digital users and can influence senior professionals to ensure this is reflected in their delivery plans
- Experience in working effectively with cross-disciplinary teams and ensuring that making design decisions is based on design knowledge, user research and knowing the user journey.
Desirable
- Experience working with communities of practice - leading discussions and fostering a culture of learning
- cussions and fostering a culture of learning 2. Experience in working in an agile/lean development process
- Experience in contributing to "design systems." For example, producing self-service systems for non-Designers, using common patterns, components, and elements.
- Experienced in leading and mentoring staff within and outside your specialism
- Experience in measuring, evaluating and visualising outcomes
- Experience in design using GDS standards
- Experience developing new functionality and services within an online or business.
- Experience contributing to organisation Playbook
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree or significant professional experience working with accessibility in software engineering.
- Evidence of continuous professional development.
Desirable
- Post-Graduate degree or qualification, with relevant skills and focus on Accessibility
- Additional practitioner level qualifications in Design, User Research, or Testing (or equivalent) or related knowledge
- Management and leadership qualification.
Additional information
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
