EmergingHuman-AI interaction and experience research

AI Accessibility Specialist

Also called Accessible AI Designer

An AI Accessibility Specialist makes sure AI features work for disabled people and assistive technology users. They find barriers early and fix them, which widens the product's audience and cuts the risk of shipping something people cannot use.

What they do

They review AI interactions such as chat, voice, generated content and agent actions, and test them with screen readers, switch controls, voice control and magnification. They plan studies with disabled participants and run them with care. They work with designers and engineers on prototypes, write up what fails and why, and help fix it. Much of the work is judgement about things standard checklists miss, such as streaming text, changing output, unclear errors and heavy cognitive load.

What a strong hire delivers

In the first months, a strong hire produces a clear accessibility assessment of the current AI experience, ranked by how much each barrier hurts real users. They get the worst issues remediated and retested with assistive technology and disabled participants. They also leave behind a repeatable way to test new features, and designers and engineers who know what to check before release.

How you can tell they are good

Ask them to walk through an AI interaction they tested and improved. Look for specific assistive technology, specific barriers and what changed afterwards. Ask how they recruited and supported disabled participants. A strong candidate talks about outcomes for users, not only standards compliance. Be wary of someone who relies on automated scanners or has never tested with disabled people.

Why it is hard to fill

Almost nobody holds this exact title. The work often sits inside UX research, design or general accessibility roles, so CVs rarely say it plainly. Candidates tend to be strong on either accessibility or AI behaviour, rarely both. Many accessibility experts have not met generative interfaces, and many AI researchers have not tested with assistive technology. Expect to assess skills, not job titles.

Where to find them

Look in accessibility consulting, public sector digital teams, assistive technology companies and large product teams with established accessibility practices. Titles include accessibility specialist, inclusive designer, UX researcher and HCI researcher. Useful backgrounds include cognitive psychology and service research. Some come from AI product teams where they were the person who cared about this and quietly did the work.

Indicative pay

Not enough published evidence yet to give a fair range for this role, which is common for work this new. We benchmark it for you as part of a search.

Interview questions for an AI Accessibility Specialist

  1. Tell us about an AI or dynamic interface you tested with assistive technology. What broke, and what did you change?

    A strong answer names the assistive technology, the specific barriers and the fix, then says how they retested. Worry if the answer stays generic, cites only guidelines, or describes automated scans without any human testing.

  2. How would you make a streaming chat response usable for a screen reader user?

    They should discuss announcement timing, avoiding constant interruptions, focus management, and letting users read at their own pace. Good answers propose testing options with real users. Worry if they assume one fix works for everyone.

4 more questions, with what a strong answer covers, are in the Role Kit.

Job description you can post

We are building AI products and want them to work for everyone, including people who use assistive technology. We are hiring an AI Accessibility Specialist to assess our AI experiences, test them with disabled people, and work with design and engineering to fix what we find.

What you will do

  • Assess AI features for accessibility barriers across chat, voice and generated content
  • Plan and run studies with disabled participants and assistive technology users
  • Test prototypes and live features with screen readers, voice control and other assistive tools
  • Work with designers and engineers to remediate issues and retest
  • Report findings clearly, ranked by impact on users
  • Build a repeatable accessibility testing approach for new AI features

What you will bring

  • Demonstrated work testing digital products with assistive technology
  • Experience running research with disabled participants, with care and rigour
  • Working knowledge of inclusive design and accessibility standards
  • Ability to design sound studies and explain results to non-specialists
  • Experience working alongside designers and engineers on fixes
  • Clear written reporting with examples of past assessments

Nice to have

  • Experience with conversational, voice or agent interfaces
  • Background in HCI, cognitive psychology or service research
  • Lived experience of disability or close work with disability communities

Free to use and adapt. If it saves you time, a link back to this page is appreciated.

Skills that matter

  • Human-computer interactionAdvancedDesign and study interactions between people and AI
  • User researchAdvancedStudy user needs, context and behaviour
  • AccessibilityWorkingEnable equitable use by people with disabilities
  • Experimental designWorkingChoose comparisons that identify credible effects

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How we wrote this

Role definitions are our own editorial work, checked against occupational classifications, standards, research and employer pages. Titles vary by company, and this is a description of the work, not a job advert.

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