About the Role:

We are seeking an experienced and strategic Associate Director - Accessibility to lead enterprise-wide accessibility initiatives across digital products, educational content, and publishing workflows. The role will be responsible for defining and executing the organization's accessibility strategy, ensuring compliance with global accessibility standards, driving innovation, and building a high-performing accessibility team.

The ideal candidate will bring deep technical expertise in digital accessibility, enterprise accessibility program management, and people leadership, along with the ability to collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to embed accessibility into product development, digital publishing, and content production processes.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Accessibility Strategy & Governance:

- Develop and execute an enterprise accessibility roadmap aligned with business objectives.

- Establish accessibility governance frameworks, standards, policies, and best practices.

- Promote accessibility awareness and adoption across product, engineering, design, QA, editorial, and business teams.

- Drive organizational accessibility maturity through training, advocacy, and continuous improvement initiatives.

2. Compliance & Accessibility Standards:

- Ensure compliance with global accessibility standards and regulations, including: WCAG 2.2 Level AA, Section 508 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), EN 301 549, EPUB Accessibility 1.1, PDF/UA, and WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices.

- Monitor evolving accessibility regulations and industry standards.

- Lead internal and external accessibility audits, assessments, and compliance reviews.

- Define remediation strategies and oversee the resolution of accessibility gaps.

3. Digital Product & Content Accessibility:

- Oversee accessibility across websites, mobile applications, HTML content, eBooks, PDFs, interactive learning products, and multimedia content.

- Integrate accessibility requirements into design, development, quality assurance, and publishing workflows.

- Partner with UX and engineering teams to ensure accessible user interfaces, components, and design systems.

- Drive accessibility compliance across digital publishing, educational content, eLearning platforms, and content remediation programs.

4. Technical Leadership & Automation:

- Define technical accessibility requirements and implementation guidelines for engineering and content teams.

- Guide the development of accessible UI components and reusable design systems.

- Evaluate accessibility testing tools, assistive technologies, and automation frameworks.

- Integrate accessibility testing into CI/CD pipelines wherever applicable.

- Promote automated and manual accessibility testing practices to improve product quality and efficiency.

5. Team Leadership & Development:

- Lead, mentor, and develop Accessibility Managers, Team Leads, Specialists, QA Engineers, and Consultants.

- Build and scale a high-performing accessibility team.

- Establish competency frameworks, career development plans, and performance management practices.

- Support recruitment, resource allocation, and capability development.

6. Stakeholder & Customer Management:

- Collaborate with Product, Engineering, UX, QA, Editorial, Publishing, and Customer Success teams.

- Engage with customers to understand accessibility requirements and address compliance-related concerns.

- Communicate accessibility risks, progress, and strategic initiatives to executive leadership.

- Drive cross-functional alignment and influence stakeholders to prioritize accessibility initiatives.

7. Quality Assurance & Performance Management:

- Define accessibility quality metrics, KPIs, and reporting frameworks.

- Establish accessibility review checkpoints throughout the product and content lifecycle.

- Oversee accessibility defect identification, remediation, and verification.

- Track compliance scores, audit outcomes, defect leakage, remediation timelines, and process effectiveness.

8. Innovation & Continuous Improvement:

- Explore AI-assisted accessibility testing, content remediation, and quality assurance solutions.

- Evaluate emerging assistive technologies and accessibility automation capabilities.

- Identify opportunities to improve accessibility workflows, operational efficiency, and testing coverage.

- Drive continuous improvement in accessibility processes, standards, and organizational practices.

Required Qualifications & Experience:

- 12-18+ years of overall professional experience, with 10+ years in accessibility leadership or management roles.

- Proven experience leading enterprise-level accessibility programs and initiatives.

- Strong understanding of digital accessibility standards, compliance frameworks, and accessibility testing methodologies.

- Demonstrated experience managing cross-functional teams and enterprise-wide accessibility projects.

- Experience in digital publishing, educational content accessibility, or eLearning platforms is highly desirable.

- Strong stakeholder management, strategic planning, and executive communication skills.

Technical Skills & Expertise:

- WCAG 2.2 Level AA and WAI-ARIA.

- HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, and accessible UX/UI principles.

- EPUB accessibility and digital publishing workflows.

- PDF accessibility, including PDF/UA standards.

- XML-based content and publishing workflows.

- Manual and automated accessibility testing methodologies.

- Accessibility audit planning, defect tracking, and remediation management.

- Assistive technologies and screen readers, including JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack.

Accessibility Testing Tools:

- Hands-on experience with tools such as: Axe DevTools, WAVE, ARC Toolkit, Accessibility Insights, PAC and other PDF accessibility validation tools.

Preferred Industry Experience:

- Educational and digital publishing.

- eLearning platforms and Learning Management Systems (LMS).

- EPUB production and accessible digital content workflows.

- Interactive digital learning products.

- Large-scale content remediation programs.

- Accessibility consulting and enterprise compliance programs.

Leadership Competencies:

- Strategic thinking and decision-making.

- Executive communication and stakeholder influence.

- Cross-functional leadership and program management.

- Change management and organizational transformation.

- Team building, mentoring, and talent development.

- Customer engagement and relationship management.

- Budget planning, resource allocation, and operational management.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

- WCAG compliance score and accessibility audit pass rate.

- Accessibility remediation turnaround time.

- Customer satisfaction and stakeholder feedback.

- Accessibility defect leakage and recurrence rate.

- Team utilization, productivity, and delivery efficiency.

- Accessibility training completion rate.

- Adoption of automation and AI-assisted accessibility solutions.

- On-time delivery of accessibility initiatives.

- Improvement in organizational accessibility maturity.

Preferred Certifications:

- IAAP Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC).

- IAAP Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS).

- IAAP Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA).

- Trusted Tester Certification.

- Section 508 Trusted Tester Certification.