Subject Specialist

Subject Specialist (assistive technology) 0.5 FTE - REMOTE

Salary: circa £46,000 pro rata per annum negotiable depending on experience + fantastic benefits

Jisc grade: CPS4 (internal use only)

Hours: 17.5 hours per week

Contract: Remote. Meeting in person is something we value so you may need to travel on occasion to any of our hub offices. We have hubs in London, Bristol, Manchester and Oxford.

About Jisc:

Jisc is the UK digital, data and technology agency focused on tertiary education, research, and innovation. We are a not-for-profit organisation with a big ambition to improve lives through education and research by providing hardware, software, and networking solutions. Our talented people bring their own unique skills and experience to empower our members and customers with the technology they need to succeed. Take your next career step with us and you can make a real difference to the education and research sectors.

About the role:

Subject specialists are empowered to make decisions about how our programmes of work can best meet our customers’ needs. You will have freedom to lead your own projects, and to work in an agile, creative way. You will be encouraged to identify and anticipate customer needs, which increasingly cover more specialist areas of assistive technology including the intersection with artificial intelligence, virtual reality and assistive robotics.

Reporting to the Programme lead for accessibility, you will work alongside subject specialists for accessibility, and for regulation and compliance. You will also have opportunities to work with colleagues from the wider Jisc Advice team, including subject specialists in areas as diverse as infrastructure, sustainability, leadership and culture, community engagement, and digital practice.

You will have a remit to develop and deliver Jisc’s support for people working in tertiary education and research, helping them to effectively and strategically deploy assistive technology. Your focus will be on providing evidence-based solutions to ensure that staff and students who are deaf, disabled or neurodivergent can access technology and digital content in the right way and at the right time.

Responsibilities will include:

• You will work independently to raise the profile of assistive technology’s role in tertiary education and of Jisc’s unique support offer, furthering Jisc’s role as the vital sector partner for technology advice and guidance
• Solve complex problems – or problems where precedent may not exist – and offer new perspectives on existing solutions
• Investigate, capture and respond to the assistive technology needs of our customers and act as a resource for colleagues with less experience
• You will lead projects, or steps within a broader project, and have accountability for ongoing activities or objectives
• You will facilitate activities for the assistive technology community – online and in-person – and develop training opportunities to build capacity in the tertiary education sector

Key Skills and Experience:

• Experience of advising staff in different roles on the appropriate, strategic and sustainable deployment of assistive technology in an educational setting
• Confidence in leading on collaborative projects and activities to find the right solutions and build workforce skills in assistive technology
• Evidence of providing thought leadership in the role of assistive technology or technology-enabled inclusive education
• Person-centred, inclusive values that centre the rights of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people
• Understanding of strategic approaches to implementing assistive technology
• Ability to elicit and collate insights about customer needs from different sources

If you have the following it would be advantageous

• Experience of providing training and support to users of assistive technology in tertiary education
• Experience of research work
• Experience of presenting to others
• An understanding of regulatory and policy influences on assistive and accessible technology

Don’t meet every single requirement?

We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they think they can’t tick every box, so we encourage you to apply even if you do not meet 100% of the requirements, but you feel this role is perfect for you. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles!

Why work for us?

At Jisc, everyone plays a key role and gets the chance to feel part of it, that to us is the definition of a meaningful career. We want to create a culture of lifelong learning. You can look forward to a rewarding job with opportunities to develop and make a real difference to the education and research sectors.

We believe a balance between your personal and professional life is essential to your happiness and fulfilment. We work flexibly at Jisc and focus on outputs rather than presenteeism and are open to a whole range of ways of working.

It isn’t about how many hours you spend at home or at work; it’s about the flow you establish that brings energy to both parts of your life. Our hybrid working policy is flexible, and the frequency of time spent in your nominated office will vary across teams and job roles.

Take a look at our fantastic benefits! We offer:

• Flexible work pattern, which can adapt to suit your schedules and personal commitments
• 31 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) that includes an additional three closure days over Christmas plus the opportunity to buy up to an additional 5 days
• Generous flexible pension schemes
• Protection benefit – life cover
• Annual Jisc performance award
• A range of wellbeing lifestyle benefits including company paid health care cash plan, employee assistance programme, mental health first aiders and support
• A generous budget to support you with external learning and continuous professional development
• Allocated allowance of up to £250 to equip your home office
• Financial well-being support including access to preferential loan and savings plans, mortgage advice, will writing tools and support and resources to help you make the most of your money
• The opportunity to donate to charity tax-free with our Payroll Giving benefit
• Electric Car Lease Scheme and option to purchase SmartTech – spreading the cost of your everyday white goods and technology
• A wide range of discounts from retailers and big-name high-street stores and CSSC membership
• Family friendly policies including enhanced parental, maternity and paternity leave and opportunity for career breaks
• Support your volunteering with up to 3 days volunteer leave
• Cycle to work scheme and eye care scheme including free eye test vouchers and £70 towards new glasses for VDU use
• Free flu vaccinations
• Employee recognition awards and travel loans
• A company culture which supports and promotes personal learning and development, including access to thousands of courses on LinkedIn Learning

Equity, diversity and inclusion:

At Jisc, we don’t look for ‘sameness’, but to truly include people who can add unique perspectives and experiences to our culture, and we are working hard to achieve progressive change. ‘Always inclusive’ is one of our six guiding principles which actively encourages us to bring our whole authentic selves to work. We believe that our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion is fundamental to our success.

Jisc believes our people make all the difference in cultivating an inclusive culture that welcomes ideas, encourages innovation, and values belonging. We work with passionate colleagues to strengthen knowledge and awareness, provide learning and development opportunities, and foster multiple employee networks which create a sense of community and influence our policies and practice.

We work hard to create an equitable experience for our candidates and workforce which embraces all aspects of their identity including race and ethnicity, religion and belief, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, trans identities, age, class, disability, neurodivergence, or veteran status.

Application process:

We are committed to supporting your success. Please let us know how we can best accommodate you throughout the recruitment process, in your role, and during your time at Jisc. Your unique skills and experiences are valuable to us, and we want to ensure you have everything you need to thrive.

Just so you know, we review CVs as soon as we can and aim to provide an update on your application within 4 weeks of receiving it. However, you may hear from us a lot sooner, so please keep an eye out for our emails or calls!

If you are currently a Jisc employee, please apply through your Dayforce Employee profile.

Jisc has an active sponsor licence to recruit on a Skilled worker visa basis. Candidates wishing to apply who require sponsorship should determine the likelihood of obtaining a Certificate of Sponsorship for the role by assessing their circumstances against the relevant Home Office criteria. Jisc does not offer any financial re-imbursement towards the applicant costs, such as re-location, skilled worker visa and dependant costs or the immigration health charge.

No agencies please.