The following questions represent the types of inquiries you will face during the Amex GBT interview process. While exact questions will vary by team, these reflect the core patterns of technical and behavioral evaluation.

Technical & Data Manipulation

These questions test your hands-on ability to work with data, primarily focusing on Excel and SQL.

• Walk me through your process for cleaning a dataset that contains thousands of duplicate and misformatted entries.
• How would you write an SQL query to find the second highest travel spend by a corporate department?
• Explain how you use INDEX/MATCH and why you might prefer it over VLOOKUP.
• Describe a time you automated a repetitive reporting task. What tools did you use?
• How do you ensure data quality and accuracy before presenting a final report?

Business Case & Analytical Thinking

These questions evaluate your domain awareness and your ability to structure a business problem.

• If a client wants to reduce their overall travel spend by 10% next year, what data points would you analyze to make recommendations?
• How would you measure the success of a new corporate travel policy requiring employees to book flights 14 days in advance?
• What KPIs are most important when evaluating hotel vendor performance for a corporate client?
• Walk me through the case study you prepared. Why did you choose to highlight these specific metrics?

Behavioral & Stakeholder Management

These questions assess your cultural fit, resilience, and communication style.

• Tell me about a time you had to explain a complex technical concept to a non-technical stakeholder.
• Describe a situation where you had competing priorities from two different senior leaders. How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time you had to work with outdated or limited technology to achieve a goal.
• How do you handle a situation where the data contradicts a senior manager's established belief?
• Why are you interested in the corporate travel sector, and specifically Amex GBT?

Case Study & Business Logic

The case study is a critical hurdle in the Amex GBT process. It evaluates not just your math, but your business judgment. You will be given a scenario relevant to corporate travel—such as optimizing a client's hotel spend or analyzing the financial impact of a new travel policy.

• Hypothesis Generation – How quickly can you identify the root cause of a business problem based on a brief prompt?
• Metric Selection – Choosing the right KPIs (e.g., average ticket price, adoption rate of preferred vendors, year-over-year spend variance).
• Actionable Recommendations – Translating the numbers into a clear "so what?" for the business.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "A major corporate client has seen their travel expenses increase by 20% this quarter despite fewer trips being taken. How would you investigate this?"
• "Present your findings from the provided dataset and recommend three policy changes the client should implement to reduce costs."

Stakeholder Management & Leadership Fit

Because you will be interviewing with various senior leaders, your ability to communicate effectively is paramount. The team wants to see that you can hold your own in a room with directors and VPs, answering their questions confidently and succinctly.

• Executive Communication – Summarizing complex technical roadblocks into business terms.
• Pushback and Influence – How you handle disagreements with stakeholders regarding data accuracy or project timelines.
• Cross-functional Collaboration – Demonstrating how you gather requirements from non-technical teams like Account Management or Finance.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Tell me about a time you had to present a challenging data finding to a senior leader who disagreed with your conclusion."
• "How do you prioritize ad-hoc data requests from multiple different department heads?"

6. Key Responsibilities

As a Data Analyst at Amex GBT, your day-to-day work will revolve around making sense of massive streams of corporate travel data. You will be responsible for extracting data from various internal databases, cleaning it, and developing comprehensive reports that track client spend, compliance with travel policies, and overall operational efficiency. Much of your time will be spent building and maintaining dashboards, as well as fulfilling complex ad-hoc data requests from internal teams.

Collaboration is a massive part of this role. You will work closely with Account Managers who need your data to conduct quarterly business reviews with corporate clients. You will also partner with Finance to reconcile travel spend and with Product Operations to ensure data integrity across booking platforms.

You will frequently be tasked with driving specific analytical initiatives, such as identifying anomalies in booking behaviors or forecasting future travel volumes based on historical trends. Because Amex GBT utilizes a mix of modern and legacy technologies, a key responsibility will also involve bridging the gap between older data storage systems and modern reporting outputs, ensuring that leadership always has access to accurate, timely information.

7. Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be a competitive candidate for the Data Analyst position, you must possess a specific blend of technical hard skills and consultative soft skills.

• Must-have technical skills – Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel (macros, complex formulas, pivot tables) is non-negotiable. You must also have strong foundational SQL skills for querying relational databases.
• Nice-to-have technical skills – Experience with BI visualization tools like Tableau or Power BI, and familiarity with Python or R for data automation.
• Experience level – Typically, successful candidates have 2 to 5 years of experience in data analysis, financial analysis, or business intelligence, preferably within a corporate, B2B, or travel industry context.
• Soft skills – Exceptional verbal and written communication skills are required. You must have the ability to manage up, interact confidently with senior leaders, and exhibit the patience required to navigate complex organizational processes.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How technical is the interview process for a Data Analyst at Amex GBT? The technical bar is heavily focused on practical business application rather than algorithmic coding. You should expect rigorous testing in advanced Excel and data manipulation, along with business case studies, rather than LeetCode-style Python or algorithmic questions.

Q: Will I be working with cutting-edge technology? While Amex GBT utilizes modern BI tools, candidates should be prepared to work within a mature enterprise environment that includes legacy systems. Flexibility and the ability to extract value from older technologies are highly valued traits here.

Q: How should I prepare for the interviews with senior leadership? Focus on the "big picture." Senior leaders care less about the specific SQL joins you use and more about how your insights drive revenue, save costs, or improve client retention. Practice summarizing your past projects in a "Situation, Task, Action, Result" (STAR) format with a heavy emphasis on the business outcome.

Q: What is the typical timeline from the initial screen to an offer? The timeline can vary significantly. Some candidates move through the process in a few weeks, while others experience delays in scheduling, particularly when coordinating with multiple senior leaders. Remain patient and maintain polite, proactive communication with your recruiter.

9. Other General Tips

• Master the Case Study Format: When presenting your case study, always start with the executive summary. Give them the bottom-line recommendation first, and then walk through the data that supports it.
• Prepare for Legacy Tech Questions: Do not show frustration if interviewers mention older tools or manual processes. Instead, frame your experience as an ability to drive modern insights regardless of the technological constraints.
• Over-Communicate with HR: If you experience delays or unresponsiveness regarding scheduling, do not assume you have been rejected. Send polite follow-up emails to keep the momentum going.
• Ask Strategic Questions: When interviewing with senior leaders, ask questions that show you understand the macroeconomic factors affecting corporate travel (e.g., remote work trends, sustainability initiatives, or inflation impacts on travel budgets).