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Jobs · Engineering · New York

Head of Accessibility Engineering & Standards

Guardian Life · New York, NY · 1 wk ago
HybridEngineering$119k–$195k/yrFull-time

About the role

The Accessibility Centre of Excellence at Guardian is dedicated to setting and enforcing enterprise-wide digital accessibility standards. This role is responsible for ensuring conformance across web, mobile, and agentic surfaces, influencing design and engineering decisions from the outset.

Responsibilities

  • Own and evolve enterprise digital accessibility standards, including conformance requirements, governance, and continuous improvement across web, mobile, and agentic surfaces.

  • Lead the Accessibility Centre of Excellence as a governance function with real authority, including release gates, conformance reviews, conditional approvals, third-party product gatekeeping, and exception governance.

  • Embed accessibility into the design system at the architecture level, ensuring conformance is built into components by default, not retrofitted after the fact.

  • Translate accessibility standards into clear, testable engineering requirements, focusing on behavior, keyboard navigation flows, assistive technology markup, and error handling that product engineers can implement without interpretation.

  • Guide front-end accessibility architecture by reviewing and directing refactors of existing components, decoupling interaction patterns that block keyboard and assistive technology users.

  • Build and operationalize audit programs and tooling capability that accelerates accessibility adoption across the enterprise.

  • Uplift accessibility capability across product and design teams through embedded consultation, standards documentation, and training that makes compliant implementation the path of least resistance.

  • Define and track success metrics, including compliance rates, audit outcomes, and legal exposure reduction, reported as enterprise capability indicators to senior leadership.

  • Build external visibility for Guardian’s accessibility practice through publishing, speaking, and community engagement.

Requirements

  • Deep expertise in digital accessibility standards and web content guidelines with a track record of governance and standards enforcement at enterprise scale.

  • Proven ability to embed accessibility into component architecture and design systems, making hard calls on breaking changes and ensuring conformance is foundational, not cosmetic.

  • Strong front-end accessibility architecture capability, experience reviewing and guiding component refactors, keyboard flow design, and assistive technology compatibility at the engineering level.

  • Confidence operating across governance and risk, including conformance reviews, conditional approvals, product assessments, and communicating accessibility in terms of business risk and legal exposure to executive audiences.

  • A public presence in the accessibility community and genuine intellectual curiosity about the frontier, including conversational and agentic accessibility, cognitive accessibility, and emerging regulatory frameworks.

Qualifications

  • Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

  • Minimum 7 years of relevant experience in digital accessibility, web development, or a related field.

  • Experience leading accessibility initiatives in large organizations.

  • Knowledge of WCAG 2.1, Section 508, and other relevant accessibility standards.

  • Experience with automated accessibility testing tools and methodologies.

  • Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

  • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently and collaboratively.

Skills

  • Expertise in digital accessibility standards and web content guidelines.

  • Strong understanding of web technologies, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

  • Experience with accessibility testing tools and methodologies.

  • Ability to influence design and engineering decisions to ensure conformance to accessibility standards.

  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

  • Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

Benefits

Guardian offers a comprehensive benefits package including health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off, and more. Specific details are available upon request.

Pay

$118,980.00 - $195,465.00 per year

Schedule

Three days a week at a Guardian location in New York, NY, or Holmdel, NJ

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