We at RedShelf were students not too long ago and started the company based on the idea that textbooks shouldn’t cost a fortune or weigh a ton. They should be affordable and easily accessible for everyone to use. Our top priority at RedShelf is to help transition the learning community from print to digital course materials and be advocates for students everywhere.

We are a very fast-growing startup (400% year over year) working out of the Boyce building in downtown Chicago. Our goal is to improve the higher education industry through digital textbooks by helping to reduce cost, increase access, and improve outcomes. Also, if you’re interested in wearing jeans to work and eating on a private rooftop deck for lunch, RedShelf is where it’s at.

What is this job?

RedShelf is committed to not only keeping our platform in accordance with accessibility standards but going above and beyond the status quo. We are looking for candidates who can fill an accessibility and usability focused role. This position will primarily be focused on performing accessibility compliance reviews on RedShelf products and service lines, as well as testing our systems with specific manual tests and assistive technology tools. This person will create, develop and defining boundaries of our testing environment for accessibility/usability. In addition, they’ll will be responsible for training our current team to maintain accessibility/usability focus while developing new code. This role will report to and work directly with our CTO to create improvements plans for accessibility/usability of our platform.

What are we looking for?

What’s the most important thing for us? Someone who is passionate about accessibility in technology and the higher education industry. An ideal candidate is someone who’s has lead accessibility initiative for 5+ yeas, possesses a strong knowledge and can interrupt state and federal accessibility regulations (including but not limited to: Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 504, 508 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) and an expert on access for students with disabilities. Candidates must also be detailed orientated, this position will be heavily required to verify disability accommodations eligibility, alongside knowledge of principles, concepts, methods and techniques of Universal Design and its application across the higher education environment.

Are you tech savvy? It’s a must for this role! Due to the technical natures of our business this role, we’re looking for a candidate who has experience with HTML/CSS and JavaScript, as well as, an understanding of web development technologies and how they impact the user experience. Knowledge of accessibility tools like JAWS, NVDA or some other comparable tool would be vital for us. As usual, written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively communicate with all stakeholders including senior leadership, will be essential to this position, as-well-as being comfortable. We are looking for someone with a track record of balancing multiple priorities simultaneously with the ability to adapt to the changing needs of the business.

Question of the year: What’s the tech stack?

Here come the bullet points. Ideally, you should have experience with these technologies or some equivalent. We are willing to train the right candidate if you are passionate about the position and our goals.

• Python, JavaScript
• Django, Celery, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch, Redis, PostgreSQL
• Ember, Mithril
• AWS, Docker, Jenkins, SaltStack
• Nose, QUnit, PhantomJS, pytest

Perks of the Gig (aka Benefits):

As we are a small and scrappy start up, everyone is expected to put in a little extra effort. We are the type of company where you will see the fruits of your labor immediately and not feel like you are just another cog in the machine. While we typically have longer workdays we certainly do have a lot of fun in the process. First off, our competitive compensation packages will usually include company stock options. In addition, we have annual “RedShelf Retreats”, frequent onsite and offsite events, including video game tournaments, sports teams (soccer, baseball, volleyball etc.) happy hours, volunteer work, and lots of others.

EEO Statement:

RedShelf is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, people of color, individuals with a disability, veterans, and others who would enrich the diversity of RedShelf are encouraged to apply.