[Hiring] Digital Accessibility Graduate Lead Intern @University of Virginia

Role Description

Help make the University of Virginia’s digital content accessible to everyone. As a Digital Accessibility Graduate Lead Intern, you will lead one of two small teams of Digital Accessibility Undergraduate Interns for a new document remediation service for UVA staff. Each Lead supervises up to three undergraduate student interns. The Lead is expected to:

• Delegate assignments, review output for accuracy and accessibility, and manage the processes of this service.
• Remediate advanced or complicated assignments.
• Report to the Digital Accessibility Coordinator.

In this role, you will learn to use industry-standard tools to identify and fix accessibility barriers in PDF documents, gaining skills that are increasingly sought after in government, education, and technology sectors. Graduate students who are passionate about equity in information access are encouraged to apply. Position will start as soon as possible and last through the end of the academic year (May 7, 2027).

Qualifications

• Current UVA graduate student.

Requirements

• Strong attention to detail and willingness to learn new software.
• Good written communication skills.
• Interest in accessibility or inclusive design (no prior experience required).
• Training is provided. No prior accessibility knowledge required. All majors welcome.

Benefits

• Up to 10 hours/week during the semester.
• Hourly Rate: $22/hour.

What You’ll Do

• Program Development (approximately 20% of effort)
  • Assist in developing document remediation program at scale for the Academic side of the University.
  • Assist with the creation of processes and development of standards of practice for undergraduate student interns.
  • Assist with creation of accessibility checklists and guidelines for future interns to follow.
  • Documentation process improvements.
• Manage Team (approximately 55% of effort)
  • Onboard undergraduate student interns.
  • Oversee up to three undergraduate student interns, including delegating tasks, balancing flow, and tracking milestones.
  • Review all interns’ deliverables before providing to requestor, checking for thoroughness and conformity.
  • Provide oral and written feedback to undergraduate student interns routinely.
  • Attend and lead weekly meetings with undergraduate student interns.
  • Manage interns’ escalations and questions about accessibility and/or complex content.
• Complex and Advanced Document Remediation (approximately 25% of effort)
  • Manage high-priority remediation requests and remediate escalated and/or complicated materials beyond the level of undergraduate student interns (e.g. charts, multi-column layouts, and tables).
  • Utilize tools such as Adobe Acrobat Pro, Equidox, SensusAccess, and PAC.
  • Remediate PDFs and digital documents to meet WCAG 2.2 AA and PDF/UA standards.
  • Ensure proper reading order, tagging, headings, alt text, color contrast, and metadata.
  • Liaise with subject matter experts for assistance with complex image descriptions, data sets, charts, graphs, etc.

PREFERRED EXPERIENCE

• Prior supervisory experience.
• Prior experience with project management and related software such as Jira, Asana, Teams or others.
• Previous practice with PDF editing, document formatting, or accessibility remediation.
• Experience with Adobe Acrobat Pro, Microsoft Word accessibility features, or HTML/document structure concepts.
• Understanding of document version control and best practices for shared file management.
• Interest in digital accessibility and/or disability studies.

Physical Demands

This is primarily a sedentary job involving extensive use of desktop computers. Remote work is possible after an initial training period.

Company Description

The University of Virginia is an equal opportunity employer. All interested persons are encouraged to apply, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Learn more about UVA’s commitment to non-discrimination and equal opportunity employment.