About the job

Job summary

The Opportunity

Put accessibility at the heart of all we do by leading the creation and enhancement of accessibility initiatives across the Parliamentary Digital Service (PDS). Partnering with customer-facing colleagues across the Digital Service, including our frontline Support Desk, Member Services and constituency engagement teams, you will drive forward awareness of accessibility, advocate for the removal of barriers, and challenge teams to deliver their services to customers in an inclusive and accessible way.  This is work of national importance, helping UK democracy function more efficiently and more transparently. As part of this new team, you can expect to:

• build and deliver our accessibility strategy and roadmap
• build a deep understanding our customers (including Members and their staff), learning how they use technology
• act as a subject matter expert for digital accessibility, providing consultancy to customer teams
• take responsibility for the review of processes and embed awareness and understanding of accessibility and digital accessibility tools into day-to-day delivery
• grow our champion network, developing bespoke training and learning, and working with project and programme rollouts
• contribute to accessibility networks within and outside Parliament

 What You Need

You could be an accessibility specialist or simply someone who has gained exposure to the relevant issues in another role. What’s vital is that you bring an understanding of how to select and use appropriate technology to provide inclusive experiences and remove barriers, as well as the ability to share this knowledge through consultancy, training and other means. You will also:

• understand how to gather customer insight
• have knowledge of accessibility guidelines, assistive technologies and end-user platforms and be ready to support decision-making by recommending the best tools and methods
• be able to build consensus and develop relationships with others, tailoring your flexible communication style to different audiences
• have experience challenging and influencing others and be able to host or moderate difficult discussions within the team and with senior stakeholders

Job description

• Create and lead the implementation of a digital accessibility strategy and roadmap for Digital Customer Services, PDS and Parliament.
• Act as a subject matter expert for digital accessibility, providing expert consultancy to customer teams, using your knowledge of accessibility guidelines, assistive technologies and end-user platforms.
• Embed a culture of responsibility for accessibility; complementing existing accessibility initiatives and providing expertise, coaching and mentoring.
• Develop and implement a framework to understand accessibility maturity across customer-facing services and teams, to articulate impact.
• Lead the review of internal processes, partnering with teams to consider and embed accessibility into the full lifecycle of customer interactions with the Digital Service.
• Design and deliver training and other interventions to ensure customer-facing teams, in particular our support desk and member-facing teams, are upskilled and are confident in delivering digital services and support which are accessible to everyone. 
• Evaluate training and coaching functions, identifying opportunities to embed an accessibility focus into these teams and the content they deliver.
• Identify and prioritise opportunities for implementing best practice across services; proactively seeking out optimisation and continued service improvement activities.
• Work closely with user research, design, training, HR, and customer insight functions to drive a deeper understanding of user needs and embedding this understanding across the organisation.
• Engage with and contribute to accessibility networks within and outside Parliament, including the cross-government accessibility community.

The above list of key responsibilities is not exclusive or exhaustive and the post holder will be required to undertake such tasks as may reasonably be expected within the scope and banding of the post.

Person specification

Criterion 1 – Communicating information
Experience using communication skills to build consensus and develop relationships with others, tailoring communication style to different audiences. Flexibility; capable of proactive and reactive communication. 

Criterion 2 – Consultancy
Ability to provide advice and recommendations to varied stakeholders based on significant specialist accessibility knowledge and experience. Experience hosting or moderating difficult discussions within the team and with senior stakeholders.

Criterion 3 – Governance and assurance 
Experience challenging and influencing delivery to consider strategic or organisational objectives. Ability to build and leverage strong relationships to reduce or remove risk associated with not meeting accessibility needs. 

Criterion 4 – Leadership and guidance
Experience bringing people together to form a motivated team and creating the right environment for a team to work in. Ability to engage in varying types of feedback, choosing the right type at the appropriate time and ensuring the discussion and decision stick.

Criterion 5 – Technical understanding 
Understanding of how to select and use appropriate technology to provide inclusive experiences and remove barriers, as well as ability to share this knowledge through training and other means, demonstrating confidence in the use of a range of assistive technologies.

Criterion 6 – User focus
Understanding of how to elicit customer requirements using a variety of sources and defining and delivering activities to gather customer insight. Offer recommendations of the best tools and methods to use based on customer insight to support decision-making.

Benefits

Please refer to our Candidate Information Pack for a full list of our benefits which include:

• up to 35 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays
• generous maternity pay policy up to 6 months full pay
• great pension scheme options (contributory and non-contributory)
• on-site subsidised gym, nursery, catering, post office, travel office and GP
• flexible options including hybrid working and family friendly policies

Things you need to know

Selection process details

How To Apply

Please make sure you're clear on the requirements of the role. These can be found in the Job Description and Candidate Information Pack. To apply, you will need to provide a CV anonymised and a Supporting Statement related to the question in the Criterion. Our application process is anonymous to prevent bias.

Apply By: 7th January 2024 at 23:55

Interviews: W/C 15th January

Format: Remote (Microsoft teams)

Our Culture

For our people, we provide an amazing opportunity to bring their talents to an institution that sits right at the heart of society in the UK. We are helping to change UK Parliament and strengthen democracy. What matters here is your potential for growth and your commitment to playing your part in our ongoing success.

We are passionate about providing an environment which promotes inclusion, diversity and equality. Regardless of your age, gender, ethnicity, beliefs or any of the other things that make you, you. We welcome applications from people who feel under-represented in the workforce. This includes those who may feel disadvantaged because of their socioeconomic circumstances.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is counter-terrorist check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.