1. What is a QA Engineer at American Express Global Business Travel?

As a QA Engineer at American Express Global Business Travel, you are the gatekeeper of quality for platforms that power the global corporate travel ecosystem. This organization handles complex itineraries, corporate compliance rules, and seamless payment integrations for thousands of enterprise clients worldwide. Your work directly ensures that business travelers experience zero disruptions when booking flights, hotels, and ground transportation.

The impact of this position is immense, as downtime or bugs in the booking and itinerary management systems can result in significant financial losses and stranded travelers. You will collaborate closely with product managers and software engineers to build robust automation frameworks that catch regressions before they reach production. The scale and complexity of the domain mean you will constantly be challenged to think about edge cases, timezone conversions, and third-party API reliability.

Stepping into this role means you will be working in a fast-paced, highly professional environment where stability is just as important as innovation. You can expect to dive deep into backend services and frontend user interfaces, ensuring that every release meets the stringent quality standards expected of the American Express Global Business Travel brand.

2. Common Interview Questions

The questions you face will heavily emphasize practical coding and scenario-based automation. While the exact questions will vary, the following examples represent the core patterns you should be prepared to handle.

Java Programming & Logic

These questions test your core algorithmic thinking and familiarity with Java syntax, usually appearing in the second technical round.

• Write a Java program to reverse a string without using built-in reverse functions.
• How do you find the missing number in an integer array of 1 to 100?
• Write a program to count the occurrences of each word in a given string.
• Explain the difference between an Interface and an Abstract Class in Java, and provide an example of when to use each.
• Write a Java program to remove duplicate elements from an ArrayList.

Test Automation (Selenium & REST Assured)

These questions assess your hands-on ability to interact with web elements and backend services.

• Write a code snippet using REST Assured to validate that a specific key-value pair exists in a JSON response.
• How do you handle dynamic web tables in Selenium where the row count changes?
• Explain the difference between Assert and Verify in test automation.
• Write a Selenium script to handle a scenario where a new browser tab opens after clicking a link.
• How do you pass data between multiple API requests in REST Assured?

Scenario & Behavioral Questions

These questions evaluate how you approach testing in a real-world business context and how you fit into the company culture.

• Tell me about a time you found a critical bug right before a major release. How did you handle it?
• Walk me through how you would test a flight search page that filters by date, airline, and price.
• Describe a situation where you disagreed with a developer about whether a reported issue was a bug or a feature.
• How do you prioritize which test cases to automate first when time is limited?
• Tell me about a time you had to present technical information to a non-technical stakeholder.

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3. Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Thorough preparation is critical to succeeding in the American Express Global Business Travel interview process. The evaluation is highly practical, focusing on your ability to write clean code and design effective automated tests.

Technical Proficiency – Interviewers will heavily evaluate your hands-on coding skills, particularly in Java, Selenium, and REST Assured. You must demonstrate the ability to write executable scripts from scratch, parse JSON responses, and interact with web elements reliably.

Problem-Solving and Scenario Mapping – You will be assessed on how you translate a high-level business scenario into a structured test plan. Strong candidates can quickly identify edge cases, missing requirements, and the most efficient way to automate the validation of a given feature.

Communication and Cultural Fitment – Because you will be working with distributed, global teams, interviewers look for clear, concise communication. You must show that you can articulate your technical decisions, handle feedback constructively, and maintain professionalism, even in challenging or ambiguous interview settings.

4. Interview Process Overview

The interview process for a QA Engineer at American Express Global Business Travel is generally straightforward, professional, and heavily focused on practical automation skills. You will typically go through two distinct technical rounds before advancing to a final cultural fitment or manager round. The technical rounds are hands-on; you should expect to share your screen and write code live rather than answering purely theoretical questions.

During the first technical interview, the focus is often on scenario-based coding. You will be given a specific testing scenario and asked to write the automation code to solve it. The second technical round shifts focus toward your general programming logic, where you will be asked to solve two to three easy-to-medium level Java programming challenges. If you clear these technical hurdles, you will move to a final panel interview focused on cultural fitment and behavioral questions.

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This visual timeline outlines the typical progression from your initial technical screens through to the final cultural fitment panel. Use this to pace your preparation, focusing heavily on live coding and automation frameworks early on, and shifting to behavioral and team-fit narratives for the final stage. Keep in mind that scheduling between the technical rounds and the final manager round can sometimes experience delays depending on team availability.

5. Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

To succeed as a QA Engineer, you must prove your technical depth across a few core domains. The technical interviews are highly practical, and you will be expected to write compiling, logical code.

Core Java Programming

Your foundation in Java is the most heavily tested area during the second technical round. Interviewers want to see that you understand data structures, loops, and object-oriented programming principles, as these are essential for building scalable automation frameworks. Strong performance here means writing clean, efficient code without relying heavily on your IDE's auto-complete features.

Be ready to go over:

• String and Array Manipulation – Reversing strings, finding duplicates, or sorting arrays.
• Collections Framework – Using HashMaps, ArrayLists, and HashSets to store and retrieve test data efficiently.
• Object-Oriented Programming – Demonstrating inheritance, polymorphism, and encapsulation in the context of page object models.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Exception handling strategies, multithreading basics, and Java Streams.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Write a Java program to find the second largest element in an array."
• "Create a method that takes a string and returns the count of each character using a HashMap."
• "Write a Java program to check if a given string is a palindrome."

API Automation with REST Assured

Because modern travel platforms rely heavily on microservices, backend testing is critical. You will be evaluated on your ability to validate APIs using REST Assured. You must know how to construct requests, handle authentication, and assert complex JSON responses.

Be ready to go over:

• HTTP Methods – Structuring GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE requests.
• JSON Parsing – Extracting specific values from deeply nested JSON payloads.
• Assertions – Validating status codes, response times, and payload data against expected outcomes.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Handling OAuth tokens, data-driven API testing, and chaining API requests.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Write a REST Assured script to send a POST request with a JSON payload and validate that the response status code is 201."
• "How do you extract a specific token from a JSON response and pass it to the next API call?"
• "Demonstrate how you would validate a response body that returns an array of travel itineraries."

UI Automation with Selenium

Web UI automation is a staple for the QA Engineer role at American Express Global Business Travel. You will be asked to write code to interact with web elements, handle synchronization issues, and implement the Page Object Model (POM) design pattern.

Be ready to go over:

• Dynamic Locators – Writing robust XPath and CSS selectors that do not break when the UI changes slightly.
• Synchronization – Implementing implicit, explicit, and fluent waits to handle dynamic loading elements.
• Action Classes – Handling dropdowns, hovers, alerts, and multiple browser windows.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating Selenium with Cucumber (BDD) or TestNG for reporting.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "Write a Selenium script to log into a portal, navigate to a booking page, and select a date from a dynamic calendar widget."
• "How do you handle a scenario where an element is present in the DOM but not yet clickable?"
• "Explain how you would structure a Page Object Model for a checkout flow."

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6. Key Responsibilities

As a QA Engineer at American Express Global Business Travel, your day-to-day work revolves around ensuring the stability and accuracy of complex travel booking systems. You will spend a significant portion of your time designing, writing, and maintaining automated test scripts for both UI and API layers. This requires a proactive approach to identifying potential failure points in new features before they are merged into the main branch.

You will collaborate daily with software engineers, product managers, and release managers. When a developer completes a new feature, you will review the acceptance criteria, map out the necessary test cases, and integrate your automated tests into the CI/CD pipeline. If a test fails, you are expected to dig into the logs, isolate whether it is an environment issue, a script issue, or a genuine application bug, and report it with clear, reproducible steps.

Beyond writing code, you will also participate in agile ceremonies such as sprint planning and retrospectives. You will advocate for quality best practices, helping the team balance the speed of delivery with the rigorous reliability required by enterprise corporate clients. You may also be tasked with maintaining test data sets and ensuring that staging environments mirror production as closely as possible.

7. Role Requirements & Qualifications

To be a competitive candidate for the QA Engineer position at American Express Global Business Travel, you need a strong blend of programming skills, testing methodology, and domain adaptability.

• Must-have skills – Proficiency in Java programming. Deep hands-on experience with Selenium WebDriver for UI automation. Strong capabilities in API testing using REST Assured and Postman. A solid understanding of Git version control and Agile methodologies.
• Experience level – Typically, candidates have 3 to 6 years of experience in software quality assurance, with a heavy emphasis on building and maintaining automation frameworks from scratch rather than just executing manual tests.
• Soft skills – Excellent problem-solving abilities, high attention to detail, and the communication skills necessary to clearly articulate bug reproduction steps to developers. You must be comfortable working in a global, distributed team environment.
• Nice-to-have skills – Experience with CI/CD tools like Jenkins or GitLab CI. Familiarity with behavior-driven development (BDD) frameworks like Cucumber. Previous experience in the travel technology, fintech, or corporate booking domains is a strong differentiator.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How difficult are the coding rounds for this role? The coding rounds are generally considered easy to medium in difficulty. You will not typically face highly complex algorithmic puzzles (like dynamic programming); instead, expect practical Java questions focusing on strings, arrays, and basic data structures.

Q: Will I need to write code from scratch, or just explain concepts? You must be prepared to write code from scratch. Interviewers will ask you to share your screen and write executable Java, Selenium, or REST Assured code for specific scenarios.

Q: What should I do if my interviewers have their cameras off during a virtual panel? This is a known occurrence during panel interviews at American Express Global Business Travel. Remain professional, keep your own camera on, and direct your answers confidently to the group, regardless of whether their video feeds are visible.

Q: How long does the entire interview process usually take? The process typically spans two to four weeks. However, there can occasionally be delays between the technical rounds and the final manager round due to scheduling or travel conflicts on the hiring team's side.

9. Other General Tips

• Master the Basics of REST Assured: API testing is a major focus. Ensure you can comfortably write code to parse complex JSON arrays and assert nested values without constantly referring to documentation.
• Practice Live Coding: Because you will be asked to write code live, practice talking through your thought process while typing. Explain why you are choosing a specific data structure or locator strategy.
• Prepare for Ambiguity in Scenarios: When given a scenario-based question, do not jump straight into writing code. Take a moment to ask clarifying questions about edge cases, expected inputs, and error handling.
• Nail the Page Object Model (POM): Be ready to explain how you structure your automation repositories. Being able to articulate the benefits of POM (reusability, maintainability) will show that you understand enterprise-grade automation.
• Stay Resilient with HR Communication: If you experience delays in scheduling your final rounds, maintain a polite and professional cadence of follow-ups. Do not let communication gaps affect your performance or confidence in the final interviews.

10. Summary & Next Steps

Securing a QA Engineer role at American Express Global Business Travel is a fantastic opportunity to work on high-stakes, globally scaled platforms. The work you do will directly impact the reliability of systems that millions of corporate travelers rely on every day. By mastering core Java programming, Selenium UI interactions, and REST Assured API validations, you will position yourself as a highly capable candidate ready to tackle their technical challenges.

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This compensation data provides a baseline for what you can expect in terms of salary and benefits for the QA Engineer role. Keep in mind that total compensation may vary based on your specific location, years of experience, and performance during the technical evaluation.

Focus your remaining preparation time on writing executable code and structuring clear, concise answers for behavioral scenarios. Remember that interviewers are looking for colleagues who are not only technically proficient but also resilient and communicative. You have the skills and the context needed to succeed—approach your interviews with confidence, and leverage additional resources on Dataford to refine your strategy.