Lead Alternate Format Specialist

🔍 Vice Provost for Student Affairs, Stanford, California, United States

📁: Communications

📅   : Aug 29, 2024 Post Date

📅   : 104440 Requisition #

This is a 2-Year Fixed Term position.

JOB PURPOSE:

Stanford University has an immediate opening for an Alternate Format Specialist in the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). This position will be in the Division of Student Affairs, which supports many student experiences outside the classroom in our residences, community centers, student organizations, health center, career education center, and more.

The mission of the Office of Accessible Education (OAE) is to promote an accessible and inclusive environment for all students with disabilities. Through both academic and housing accommodations, we work to mitigate physical and attitudinal barriers that students might face. We are dedicated to supporting students with disabilities, so they have access to perform at their academic potential. We also strive to promote the inclusive environment they need to experience full membership in our diverse Stanford community.

The Lead Alternate Format Specialist is responsible for leading the remediation and design of complex educational materials, ensuring they meet accessibility standards and fit the needs of students and faculty. This role may involve working closely with faculty and students to understand specific access barriers and to prioritize materials for the class. The Lead Alternate Format Specialist is also responsible for creating customized workflows to overcome accessibility challenges, and ensuring content is remediated accurately and on time using specialized software. It involves managing projects from start to finish, working with faculty and students to produce high-quality, accessible content across different platforms. The role also includes maintaining quality control, training team members, and staying up to date with industry standards and technology to keep improving services and workflows.

Inclusion and diversity are integral to our commitment to excellence. We are interested in candidates who have demonstrated experience engaging with diversity through activities such as fostering an inclusive environment, working with students from diverse backgrounds, or incorporating diverse perspectives in their work. The ideal candidate will exhibit a high degree of autonomy and possess a self-motivated approach and strong team-oriented mindset, possess exceptional organizational skills, and superior communication skills that facilitate interactions within our diverse academic community.

In this role, you will:

Under general direction of the AF Manager, take responsibility for complex remediation projects for specifically assigned classes from professor and student contact through completion.
Review course documents and communicate with faculty as needed to create individual jobs for each document requiring remediation, to be performed by other team members. Prioritize these jobs based on understanding of class structure and due dates.
From initial student contact through to final delivery, manage the entire lifecycle of remediation projects. This includes liaising with faculty to understand their needs, coordinating with relevant stakeholders, and ensuring that the final deliverables align with both student and technical specifications.
Remediate complex documents, including providing image descriptions or tactile graphics for images used in the documents.
Remediate documents, including foreign language documents, to a variety of output formats such as docx, html and epub, based on understanding of student’s assistive technology and course content as well as thorough knowledge of accessibility guidelines. Approach each project with a focus on broader accessibility solutions, starting from initial documents and considering how each element fits into the finished product to meet accessibility standards.
Maintain quality control of remediated documents for accuracy and adherence to appropriate accessibility standards. Adjust workflows as needed to facilitate accuracy and adherence.
Use job-required software applications (e.g., MathPix, MathType, Abbyy Finereader) to remediate a wide variety of documents from content: text, complex illustrations, images, and graphics and complex STEM content.
Inspect remediated documents for accuracy and adherence to appropriate accessibility standards. Test documents with assistive technology used by the student.
Coordinate with instructional staff to understand materials being used, then develop tailored workflows and define standards to achieve desired results for course-specific content.
Create remediation standards and guidelines for specific students, courses, and/or final products.
Enhance existing workflows for improved accessibility and team efficiency.
Train team members on newly developed workflows. Provide guidance to other team members.
Maintain knowledge of accessibility standards, trends in document remediation and new developments in job-specific software applications. Incorporate these new developments into workflows as applicable.

To be successful in this role, you will bring:

A bachelor's degree in related field and three years of relevant experience or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
Demonstrated experience using formatting and editing tools in Microsoft Word.
Demonstrated understanding of html highly desired.
Ability to identify challenges and develop solutions.
Demonstrated experience and understanding of job-required software applications including Windows 11 and Adobe Acrobat.
Ability to adapt to changing priorities, deadlines, and customer needs.
Ability to work on multiple projects simultaneously.
Strong organizational and communication (both written and verbal) skills.
Ability to perform detailed work with a high level of accuracy and attention to detail.
Strong knowledge in industry standards, trends, and technical knowledge.
Ability to work effectively with others as part of a team.

In addition, preferred requirements include:

Excellent organizational skills including an ability to oversee a wide variety of activities, to define pitfalls, to propose and implement effective solutions, while being able to set and re-adjust often competing priorities.
High level of energy, flexibility, and the ability to work independently.

Certifications and Licenses:

None

WORKING CONDITIONS:

This position is remote eligible.
Able to work evenings and weekends, as needed.

WORK STANDARDS:

Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrates the ability to work well with Stanford colleagues and clients and with external organizations.
Promote Culture of Safety: Demonstrates commitment to personal responsibility and value for safety; communicates safety concerns; uses and promotes safe behaviors based on training and lessons learned.
Subject to and expected to comply with all applicable University policies and procedures, including but not limited to the personnel policies and other policies found in the University's Administrative Guide, http://adminguide.stanford.edu.

This role is open to candidates anywhere in the United States. Stanford University has five Regional Pay Structures. The compensation for this position will be based on the location of the successful candidate.

The expected pay range for this position is $67,000 to $110,000 per annum for remote positions.

The expected pay range for this position is $70,000 to $110,000 per annum for Stanford Work Location positions.

Stanford University provides pay ranges representing its good faith estimate of what the university reasonably expects to pay for a position. The pay offered to a selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal equity, geographic location and external market pay for comparable jobs.

At Stanford University, base pay represents only one aspect of the comprehensive rewards package. The Cardinal at Work website (https://cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/benefits-rewards) provides detailed information on Stanford’s extensive range of benefits and rewards offered to employees. Specifics about the rewards package for this position may be discussed during the hiring process.

HOW TO APPLY:

We invite you to apply by clicking on the “Apply for Job” button. To be considered, please submit your résumé and a one-page cover letter along with your online application.

Why Stanford is for You

Imagine a world without search engines or social platforms. Consider lives saved through first-ever organ transplants and research to cure illnesses. Stanford University has revolutionized the way we live and enrich the world. Supporting this mission is our diverse and dedicated 17,000 staff. We seek talent driven to impact the future of our legacy. Our culture and unique perks empower you with:

Freedom to grow. We offer career development programs, tuition reimbursement, or course auditing. Join a TedTalk, film screening, or listen to a renowned author or global leader speak.
A caring culture. We provide superb retirement plans, generous time-off, and family care resources.
A healthier you. Climb our rock wall or choose from hundreds of health or fitness classes at our world-class exercise facilities. We also provide excellent health care benefits.
Discovery and fun. Stroll through historic sculptures, trails, and museums.
Enviable resources. Enjoy free commuter programs, ridesharing incentives, discounts and more!

The job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned.

Consistent with its obligations under the law, the University will provide reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should contact Stanford University Human Resources by submitting a contact form.

Stanford is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Additional Information