Accessibility Compliance Specialist

The Accessibility Compliance Specialist works to ensure that the University's software, services, digital assets, and physical environments meet legal and technical standards for individuals with disabilities. This position reviews documentation, manages evaluations of digital software/services, conducts risk assessments, and provides recommendations about accessibility compliance. This role assists with facilitating training and providing assistance to university personnel in making digital assets accessible. This role may hire, supervise, and evaluate student staff. Further, this role assists with all functions of Accessibility Services. Vendor & Procurement Review - 65% Evaluate Voluntary Product Accessibility Templates (VPATs) and Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) for third-party software, mobile apps, and digital services. Use government and industry standards, UCM policy, and other guidelines to develop processes and methods to evaluate whether vendor-provided ACRs meet the university's required minimum standard for compliance with ADA Title II requirements. Provide documentation and approval recommendations based on ACR review as part of the UCM procurement process. Manage relationships with internal stakeholders, providing explanations and assistance in gathering input necessary for compliance evaluations; when necessary, assist requestors with locating alternative products that meet ADA requirements. Manage relationships with vendor and manufacturer compliance teams; liaison with vendor teams and resources to obtain needed information and compliance artifacts to perform accessibility and risk assessments. Collaborate with UCM General Council, Procurement, Office of Technology, and other key stakeholders to complete risk assessment and compliance assessment procedures. Compliance Management - 10% Interpret and apply federal and state laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Titles I, II, and III, and the Rehabilitation Act. Proactively seek out news and share awareness of evolving compliance requirements with relevant University stakeholders. Perform process and documentation reviews to ensure that University procedures are responsive to evolving compliance requirements. Accessibility Auditing - 15% Conduct comprehensive manual and automated testing of websites, mobile apps, and documents (PDFs, Word) to ensure they meet the university's accessibility standards (for example, ADA Title II and Section 508 requirements). Collaborate with developers and designers to fix accessibility barriers. This may include researching code-level recommendations in HTML, CSS, and ARIA. Training & Advocacy - 5% Develop and deliver accessibility awareness programs and technical workshops for staff, faculty, or content creators. Assist Director in all functions of Accessibility Services. -5% Manage all aspects of student staff - Interview/hire/monitor staff as necessary; assign daily and long-term duties and monitor the progress of assigned tasks; Monitor the work of student staff daily; Conduct one-on-one evaluations with student workers each semester. Serve on University committees that include, as part of their area of concern, issues pertaining to accessibility compliance. Develop and maintain written materials, including reports, brochures, websites, and other information, secure their translation into alternative formats, and identify and effectively use technology to disseminate ADA information. Advise faculty and staff in creating and maintaining digital assets that are ADA-compliant. Other duties as assigned by the OAS Leadership.

Education:

A bachelor's degree in the preferred fields of technology, education, special education, psychology, social work, or health sciences is required. Applicants with a bachelor's degree in another field must also have two (2) years of experience working directly with compliance or risk assessments.

Experience:

One (1) year of experience working in higher education preferred. One (1) year of experience with digital content evaluations and testing preferred. One (1) year of experience working in Risk Management or Project Management preferred.