American Express Software Engineer interviews, as candidates describe them, mix an online or video screen with technical rounds on DSA, OOP, and SQL. Interviewers dig into resume projects, and an HR or behavioral conversation often follows.
$125K
Avg. Base Comp
$145K
Avg. Total Comp
2-4 rounds
Typical Rounds
Not reported
Process Length
Candidates describe the American Express Software Engineer interview as approachable on coding but demanding on explanation. Several report easy-to-medium DSA problems, such as Two Sum-style hash map questions, sorting 0/1/2 arrays, LRU cache, string manipulation, and tree problems. Others describe harder rounds, including backtracking, graph questions, and medium-to-hard DSA where interviewers wanted both the brute-force and optimized solutions.
The most repeated theme is the resume and project deep dive. Multiple candidates say interviewers asked about algorithms, design decisions, trade-offs, and what they would change. One recent candidate said the project follow-ups were harder than the easy DSA and SQL questions. Expect to explain why you made each technical choice, not just what you built.
OOP and fundamentals come up often: inheritance, polymorphism, abstract classes, singleton, and SQL or DBMS basics. Java-focused candidates also mention Spring Boot, microservices, exceptions, and streams. One candidate was asked to design a REST API for a flight booking system, and a senior candidate faced hotel-booking system design with database and concurrency trade-offs.
The process format varies by candidate. Reports include a HireVue or Codility screen, a technical video interview, a managerial or HR conversation, and a final behavioral round. Most reports we have are no-offer outcomes, and some candidates mention slow or sparse recruiter communication. Practice talking through your solution aloud, start from brute force, and prepare a specific answer to why American Express.
Synthesized from 43 candidate reports by our editorial team.
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Real interview reports from people who went through the American Express process.
My first step was a virtual HireVue interview, which meant answering prompts on camera with no live interviewer. The next stage was a 60 minute technical interview with two engineers on the call. They moved between LeetCode-style problems and a deep dive into my project work, and they also asked about OOP principles, so I had to explain my design choices out loud while coding. In a separate conversation, the interviewer opened with my introduction and a walkthrough of my CV projects, then went fairly deep into the algorithms behind them. The technical portion included an easy DSA question and an easy SQL question, so the coding itself felt approachable, but the follow-up questions on my projects were where the interview got harder. Later, the interviewer asked what I thought had not gone well earlier and then pressed on that exact topic. I did not receive an offer, but the overall experience was described as good.
Prep tip from this candidate
Be ready to explain the algorithms, tradeoffs, and design decisions behind every project on your resume, since the interviewers went deep on them in multiple conversations. Practice explaining OOP design choices out loud while you code, not just writing the solution silently.
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Sourced from candidate reports and verified by our team.
Topics based on recent interview experiences.
Featured question at American Express
Select the 2nd highest salary in the engineering department
| Question | |
|---|---|
| Find the First Non-Repeating Character in a String | |
| Bagging vs Boosting | |
| P-value to a Layman | |
| Precision and Recall | |
| Hurdles In Data Projects | |
| Success Measurement | |
| 85% vs 82% | |
| User Event Data Pipeline | |
| Offer Matching API Design | |
| Holiday Airport Traffic Surge | |
| Loan Model | |
| Optimize Model Performance | |
| Fixed-Length Arrays: Deletion | |
| Text Editor With OOP | |
| Decision Tree Evaluation | |
| Open Source Reporting Pipeline | |
| Client Solution Pushback | |
| Stakeholder Communication | |
| Acquisition Threshold | |
| Why Do You Want to Work With Us | |
| Your Strengths and Weaknesses | |
| Fast Food Database | |
| Singly Linked List | |
| Deer Density | |
| Closest SAT Scores | |
| Employee Salaries | |
| Subscription Overlap | |
| Empty Neighborhoods | |
| Rolling Bank Transactions |
Synthesized from candidate reports. Individual experiences may vary.
Candidates report different openers: a recruiter call, a recorded HireVue interview, a Codility assessment, or an online assessment with coding and CS fundamentals. The format likely depends on the team and level. Prepare for easy-to-medium coding and a short, specific answer to why American Express.
Candidates typically describe a video or phone technical round, often about an hour. It combines coding problems with OOP, SQL, or DBMS questions and a walkthrough of resume projects. Some interviewers asked for the brute-force solution first, then the optimized one. Practice explaining your reasoning aloud while you code.
Some candidates report a second technical or techno-managerial round with further DSA, project deep dives, and design or backend questions. Reported topics include API design, Java and Spring Boot, concurrency, and database choice trade-offs. Expect follow-ups on your own decisions, and note that the depth varies by candidate and level.
Several candidates describe a behavioral or HR portion covering conflict, disagreement, teamwork, strengths and weaknesses, and why Amex. One candidate was asked how they influence others without formal authority. Prepare concrete STAR-style stories. Recruiter communication may be slow, so following up directly can help.
