How do you implement a scalable architecture and tooling to automatically enforce strict WCAG 2.1 AA compliance across dozens of autonomous frontend teams without crippling developer velocity?

Short answer

WCAG compliance scales when accessibility moves into the design system and delivery pipeline: ship accessible primitives, block new violations in CI, baseline legacy debt, and reserve manual screen reader audits for critical flows automation cannot judge.

Keep frontend explicit in the answer because that is the concept the interviewer is actually trying to test. A good frontend explanation names the trade-off, the failure mode, and the evidence you would use before choosing.

Frontend matters here because the enforcing wcag compliance at scale answer has to show the boundary, not just the happy path.

The frontend delivery pipeline is also where this answer proves scale: the checks have to catch regressions before each autonomous team ships.