Head of Digital Accessibility

This role is advertised as part of our BBC Extend programme for disabled people. To apply for this role you should identify as deaf, disabled or neurodivergent and must meet either: the definition of disability in the Equality Act (2010), or the definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) if applying in Northern Ireland. You’re broadly defined as disabled under both acts if you have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term negative or adverse effect on your ability to do normal daily activities. This definition includes both apparent and non-apparent conditions and impairments, and medical conditions such as Cancer, HIV or Multiple Sclerosis.



We are committed to making the process of applying for this role as accessible as possible. If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the application process, or have any questions about our Extend programme, please contact the BBC Extend team via the shared mailbox (extend@bbc.co.uk).



The BBC are fully committed to providing workplace adjustments to help eliminate barriers in the workplace that disabled people face. To do this, we have our own dedicated BBC Access and Disability Service that provides assessments and support throughout employment with us. If you are successful in applying for this role and require workplace adjustments, we will work with you to get your adjustments in place.



If you’d like more information on BBC Extend, please visit the BBC Extend webpage.

Job Introduction


The BBC is committed to equality and inclusion. It underpins our strategy, Value for All and is critical to universality, ensuring we serve all audiences. The BBC also has an ambitious vision, to be the world’s first global digital media organisation with public service values at the heart. In support of this vision, we are transforming the way audiences engage with the BBC digitally, through an experience that feels more unified, deeply connected and content rich. The accessibility of the digital experience is fundamental to our transformation.



We are seeking a Head of Digital Accessibility to join the UX&D Senior Leadership Team in driving the BBC’s strategy for digital accessibility and establishing a centre of excellence in this space.

Main Responsibilities


Your key responsibilities will include but are not limited to: 



Vision, Strategy & Leadership: Work with the CDO to deliver a comprehensive digital accessibility vison and strategy, and lead on embedding best practice at the organisational level, ensuring our digital experiences preserve and enable access for digitally excluded user groups. You will also lead a talented team of digital accessibility specialists, and provide them with clarity of direction, empowering them to drive strategic work and holding them accountable for delivering impact.



Standards and Best Practice: you will lead on establishing and maintaining best practice aligned with international standards (WCAG ADA Section 508) as well as the BBC values, standards, guidelines and guidance, to ensure our digital services and internal systems are accessible by all, by default. You will also lead on the strategy with partners and procurement teams to support the procurement of accessible and inclusive digital services and systems for our staff.



Communities of Practice: You will advocate for a culture of accessibility and inclusion over compliance, empowering teams to championing these approaches in creating digital experiences. Together with your team, you will define best practices, coach and guide stakeholders, communities of practice and teams across different functions and divisions.



Governance and Accountability: You will lead on delivering annual plans for digital accessibility and be responsible for the budget and ROI, ensuring impact is delivered. You will also ensure appropriate mechanisms are in place to track progress, through assessments and reporting. You will also drive consistent approaches to testing, identifying, and addressing accessibility barriers across all platforms (Mobile App, TV, Web etc).



Communication & Engagement: You will bring stakeholders across the BBC together and inspire and enable them to drive change in their teams and divisions. You will host and/or moderate discussions to ensure progress on the strategy. You will also speak on behalf of and represent the digital accessibility community to large audiences inside and outside of the BBC and provide thought leadership to evolve our digital accessibility strategy.


Are You The Right Candidate?


You will be a thought leader in the digital accessibility field, and an experienced practitioner and team leader, confident in advocating, raising awareness and articulating digital accessibility needs and best practices in crafting and building user-led service experiences.



You’ll have a demonstrable passion for and experience working with user-centred design and how accessibility is integral to usable, useful and distinctive digital experiences.



As an advocate for the user and subject matter expert on all matters to do with digital accessibility, assistive technology, related standards and regulation, you will have experience in making and driving strategic recommendations and overseeing programmes of work to deliver these.



You will be comfortable working with diverse stakeholders, and be able to quickly establish credibility, influence and trust as well as having the ability to deliver change through influence.

Package Description
Band: F

Contract type: Permanent

Location: any UK BBC hub (with hybrid working)

Salary range: up to £110,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

About the BBC
We’re happy to discuss flexible working. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application. There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.



Excellent career progression – the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
Unrivalled training and development opportunities – our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.
Benefits – we offer a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days (1 of which is a corporation day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.


We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the below document: https://performancemanager.successfactors.eu/S001190811T2/Our_BBC_Values.pdf



Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.



We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.



We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.



To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/diversity/