HMRC - Senior Accessibility Specialist

Join HMRC as a Lead Accessibility Specialist and Make a Real Impact!

Are you ready to transform digital experiences and ensure they are accessible to everyone? HMRC is searching for a dynamic and passionate Lead Accessibility Specialist to drive our accessibility efforts and champion inclusivity in our digital products and services.

Why Is This Role Exciting?

In this pivotal role, you'll be the driving force behind making HMRC's digital landscape accessible for all. Your work will directly align with our unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion, ensuring that everyone, regardless of ability, can access and benefit from our services. This is more than a job—it's a mission to create a truly inclusive digital world.

As a key member of our newly formed Internal Accessibility Centre of Excellence (CoE), you’ll be part of a dedicated team of Accessibility Specialists. Your mission? To support HMRC users of assistive technologies, communicate standards and legal obligations, and ensure internal compliance with accessibility legislation.

Role Overview

As the Lead Accessibility Specialist, you'll be at the heart of our accessibility initiatives, ensuring our digital products and services are inclusive and user-friendly for all customers and employees. This role requires a deep understanding of accessibility regulations, guidelines, and best practices, along with the ability to lead cross-functional teams in implementing effective accessibility solutions.

What You'll Bring to the Table:

Expert Knowledge: Leverage your deep understanding of the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 and the Equality Act 2010 to safeguard our internal user experience.
WCAG Mastery: Expertise in WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 standards is crucial for maintaining the highest accessibility standards for our technology estate.
Tech Savvy: Proficiency with assistive technologies like DevTools, JAWS, NVDA, Dragon, Windows Ease of Access suite, and iOS is essential for testing and validating our solutions.
Leadership: Proven experience in leading and mentoring a team will inspire and guide colleagues towards our shared accessibility goals.
Job description
Responsibilities

Develop and Implement Strategies: Create robust accessibility strategies, policies, and procedures.
Quality Assurance & Audits: Influence quality assurance and testing strategy; conduct audits and assessments to identify improvement areas.
Collaboration & Implementation: Work with design, development, and product teams to integrate accessibility; manage the implementation of the Internal Accessibility CoE testing process for all HMRC services.
Training & Support: Provide expert guidance, training, and support on accessibility best practices and assistive technologies.
Team Leadership & Development: Lead and mentor a team of accessibility professionals; handle talent development and succession planning.
Representation & Decision Making: Represent HMRC in external forums and events; make informed decisions relating to accessibility testing.
Stay Current: Keep up-to-date with emerging accessibility trends, technologies, and regulations, recommending actions to maintain compliance.
Person specification
Positive Impact: Support HMRC’s vision of positive employee experience ensuring maximum contribution from all colleagues.
Advocacy: Promote and advocate accessibility test capabilities within and outside government.
Training Delivery: Deliver training to colleagues on accessibility best practices, testing, and meeting the needs of our community.
Relationship Building: Build relationships with third-party suppliers, project stakeholders, and service owners.
Technical Proficiency: Proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WAI ARIA to support service owners with remediation.
Audit Experience: Experience in conducting full accessibility audits and understanding of evaluation tools and testing methods, including manual testing.
Essential Criteria

Regulatory Knowledge: Excellent working knowledge of the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018, the Equality Act 2010, and the impacts of non-compliance.
WCAG Expertise: In-depth understanding of WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 standards.
Assistive Technology Proficiency: Good knowledge of and ability to test with assistive technology tools.
Leadership Experience: Proven experience in leading and managing a team.
Desirable Criteria

Experience in a large, complex organization with diverse digital products and services.
Knowledge of agile methodologies and their application in accessibility initiatives.
Familiarity with accessibility testing tools and automation frameworks.
Certification or formal training in accessibility standards and best practices.
Why HMRC?

At HMRC, we believe that diversity drives innovation. We value everyone's unique talents and perspectives, creating an environment where everyone can thrive. We encourage applications from individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and abilities, as we strive to build a workforce that reflects the communities we serve.

Apply today and lead the charge in making HMRC's digital world accessible for everyone. Your journey to making a real impact starts here!

Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Leadership
Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

Evidence of excellent working knowledge of Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 and the impacts of non-compliance on internal users.
Excellent working knowledge of the Equality Act 2010 and the impacts of non-compliance on internal users.
In-depth knowledge of WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 and its relevance to HMRC’s internal technology estate.
In-depth knowledge of, and the ability to test with the assistive technology tools (for example, DevTools, JAWS, NVDA, Dragon, Windows Ease of Access suite and iOS.
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £42,618, HM Revenue and Customs contributes £11,506 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
HMRC operates both Flexible and Hybrid Working policies, allowing you to balance your work and personal commitments. We welcome applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, considering our operational and customer service needs.

We offer a generous leave allowance, starting at 25 days and increasing by a day for every year of qualifying service up to a maximum of 30 days.

Pension - We make contributions to our colleagues’ Alpha pension equal to at least 27% of their salary.
Family friendly policies.
Personal support.
Coaching and development.
To find out more about HMRC benefits and find out what it’s really like to work for HMRC hear from our insiders or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service

Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
How to Apply

As part of the application process, you will be asked to provide the following:

A name-blind CV including your job history and previous experiences matching the Person Specification part of the advert.
A 500-word personal statement outlining why you would like the post, why you are suitable and how you meet the criteria.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Sift

At sift, your CV, and your Personal Statement, will be assessed, with the successful candidates being invited to interview.

We may also raise the score required at any stage of the process if we receive a high number of applications.

Interview

During the panel interview, your experience will be assessed, and you will be asked behaviour-based questions to explore in detail what you are capable of.

There will be Technical Questions on:

Evidence of excellent working knowledge of Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations 2018 and the impacts of non-compliance on internal users.

Excellent working knowledge of the Equality Act 2010 and the impacts of non-compliance on internal users.

In-depth knowledge of WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 and its relevance to HMRC’s internal technology estate.

In-depth knowledge of, and the ability to test with the assistive technology tools (for example, DevTools, JAWS, NVDA, Dragon, Windows Ease of Access suite and iOS.

Interviews will take place via video link. Sift and interview dates to be confirmed.

Eligibility

Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. If you do make a mistake, please contact us via: ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk – Use the subject line to insert appropriate wording for example – ‘Please re-open my application – 365079 & vacancy closing date 22/08/2024’

To check that you are eligible to apply for this role, please review the eligibility information before submitting your application.

Reserve List

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles – if this applies to you, we’ll let you know via your Civil Service Jobs account.

Merit List

After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.

Criminal Record Check

Applications received from candidates with a criminal record are considered fairly in accordance with the DBS Code of Practice and the Recruitment of ex-offenders Policy.

Reasonable Adjustments

We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact the UBS Recruitment Excellence Team via ubsrecruitmentexcellence@hmrc.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:

This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need. Please consider the advertised office locations for this role when applying and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you can travel to.

Terms and Conditions

Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement, this will be tested as part of the selection process.

HMRC has a presence in every region of the UK. For more information on where you might be working, review this information on our locations.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. The evidence you provide in your application must relate to your own experiences.

Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant application(s) will be withdrawn from the process.

Recording of interviews is prohibited unless explicit agreement is sought in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulations.

Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

New entrants will join on the minimum of the pay band.

If you experience accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.