A Project Manager at American National Insurance plays a pivotal role in driving strategic execution across the organization's diverse business lines, including life insurance, annuities, and property and casualty coverage. In this role, you are responsible for leading complex, cross-functional initiatives that directly impact operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and digital transformation. You will act as the bridge between technical teams, business stakeholders, and executive leadership, ensuring that projects are delivered with discipline, transparency, and high quality.

At American National Insurance, project management is not just about tracking tasks; it is about driving meaningful change. The organization is actively modernizing its legacy platforms and expanding its digital capabilities, which means you will be managing projects with significant scale and strategic influence. Whether you are leading a team through an Agile transition or managing a structured product launch, your work will directly affect how the company serves its policyholders and maintains its competitive edge in the insurance industry.

The environment is highly collaborative, requiring you to navigate a matrixed organization with stakeholders located across key corporate hubs, such as Galveston, TX and League City, TX. Successful Project Managers here are those who can balance rigorous project governance with the flexibility needed to solve complex, ambiguous problems. It is an inspiring space for professionals who want to see the direct organizational impact of their leadership and execution skills.

The interview process at American National Insurance is designed to evaluate both your functional project management capabilities and your cultural alignment with the team. While questions may vary depending on the specific department or hiring team, they are consistently behavioral and situational.

The following questions represent common patterns and themes observed in real interview experiences for the Project Manager role.

Agile & Project Methodology

These questions assess your understanding of project delivery frameworks and your ability to apply disciplined methodologies to solve organizational challenges.

• How do you determine the best project management methodology—such as Agile, Waterfall, or a hybrid approach—for a new initiative?

Preparing for an interview at American National Insurance requires a balanced focus on your technical project management toolkit and your interpersonal leadership abilities. The interviewers want to see that you can run structured projects while maintaining a collaborative, conversational, and non-bureaucratic relationship with your team.

When preparing, focus on aligning your experience with these core evaluation criteria:

Role-Related Knowledge & Methodology – You must demonstrate a deep understanding of project management principles, including scope management, risk mitigation, and resource allocation. Be prepared to discuss how you apply both Agile and traditional project frameworks in a disciplined, structured manner to solve real-world operational challenges.

Problem-Solving & Discipline – Interviewers look for candidates who approach challenges with a systematic, analytical mindset. You should be able to explain how you identify project bottlenecks, assess risks proactively, and implement structured solutions that keep initiatives on track without causing friction.

Leadership & Peer Fit – Because you will collaborate closely with peer groups and cross-functional teams, your leadership style and ability to fit into the company's collaborative culture are heavily weighted. Show that you are a supportive, communicative leader who focuses on empowering others and building consensus rather than relying on authority.

Communication & Stakeholder Management – You will be evaluated on your ability to translate complex project details into clear, actionable updates for stakeholders at all levels of the organization. Strong candidates demonstrate active listening, empathy, and the ability to influence without formal authority.

The interview process at American National Insurance for a Project Manager position is professional, transparent, and structured. It is designed to evaluate your technical competency, leadership style, and cultural alignment through a series of progressive conversations. On average, the entire process takes about three to four weeks from the initial application to the final decision.

The process typically begins with a phone screen by an internal recruiter, which focuses on verifying your core qualifications, resume details, and salary expectations. This is followed by a Zoom interview with a hiring manager or an Agile leader, where you will discuss your technical background, project management philosophy, and understanding of the role. The final stages involve panel interviews with team leads, peers, and stakeholders from various departments, which can be conducted virtually or in person at one of their corporate locations, such as League City, TX or Galveston, TX.

The timeline above outlines the typical progression of stages you will navigate during the hiring process. Candidates should use this timeline to pace their preparation, focusing first on high-level resume walkthroughs and certification details, before transitioning to deep situational and behavioral preparation for the panel rounds. While the process is highly structured, candidates frequently note that the panels feel more like engaging, collaborative conversations than stressful assessments.

To succeed in the Project Manager interview process, you must understand the specific areas where interviewers will focus their evaluation. The company values practical, real-world execution over theoretical knowledge.

Agile and Traditional Project Governance

This area evaluates your ability to manage project lifecycles using structured methodologies. Interviewers want to see that you can bring order to complex initiatives and adapt your approach based on the project's unique needs.

Be ready to go over:

• Methodology Selection – Explaining how and why you choose between Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery frameworks for different project types.
• Risk and Issue Management – How you proactively identify, track, and mitigate project risks before they impact timelines or budgets.
• Project Controls – Your approach to managing scope creep, tracking project health metrics, and maintaining clear project documentation.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Integrating change management frameworks into project delivery, and managing complex vendor-implemented software integrations.

Example scenarios:

• Managing a project where the business requirements are highly volatile and require a transition from traditional Waterfall to an Agile framework.
• Handling a critical vendor delay that threatens the launch date of a highly visible compliance project.

Behavioral Alignment and Conflict Resolution

Because Project Managers must influence teams without direct authority, your behavioral alignment, empathy, and conflict resolution skills are heavily scrutinized during peer and stakeholder panels.

Be ready to go over:

• Conflict Resolution – Practical strategies for resolving disagreements between technical teams and business stakeholders regarding project priorities or deliverables.
• Empathy-Driven Leadership – How you build strong relationships with team members, understand their challenges, and support their professional growth.
• Handling Ambiguity – Demonstrating how you maintain team focus and momentum when project objectives or organizational directions change mid-stream.
• Advanced concepts (less common) – Rebuilding trust with a business unit that has had historically poor relationships with the project management office.

Example scenarios:

• Resolving a situation where a lead developer and a business analyst disagree on the scope of a minimum viable product (MVP).
• Navigating a project kickoff where team morale is low due to previous project failures in the same domain.

Cross-Functional Stakeholder Collaboration

This evaluation area focuses on your communication skills and your ability to collaborate with diverse departments, including IT, underwriting, actuarial, and claims.

Be ready to go over:

• Communication Tailoring – Adapting your communication style when presenting technical details to business executives versus explaining business goals to technical developers.
• Influence Without Authority – Motivating cross-functional team members who have competing operational priorities outside of your project.
• Consensus Building – Facilitating workshops or meetings to align multiple departments on a unified project roadmap.

Example scenarios:

• Aligning stakeholders from three different departments on a single, shared timeline for a system modernization effort.
• Securing resource commitments from a functional manager who is hesitant to allocate their key staff to your project.