I just finished the Amex new grad SWE process for their technology development program. Sharing this because I couldn't find much that was recent when I was prepping.
First: Amex recruits new grads pretty heavily through their TDP (Technology Development Program). The process is a little different from just applying to a regular opening. You apply to the program, get a recruiter screen, then go through a technical phone screen, and if that clears, a virtual on-site.
The recruiter screen was basic. Why Amex, what are you looking for, tell me about a project. Standard stuff. Be ready with a genuine answer about financial services or technology at scale because they do care about fit for this program specifically.
Technical phone screen: Two coding problems on HackerRank. Medium difficulty by LeetCode standards. One was array manipulation (a sliding window problem), one was string parsing. You have 60 minutes. I finished both with about 10 minutes to spare but I'd been grinding LC for three weeks beforehand. Don't skip this prep step.
Virtual on-site (for TDP): Three rounds. Technical coding: two more problems, similar medium difficulty. They added a follow-up after I solved the first one: "how would you scale this if the input was 1 billion rows?" I talked about chunking and streaming. They liked that. System design (simplified): this surprised me for a new grad round. It was a gentler version: "design a simple URL shortener." They weren't expecting me to nail sharding strategies, but they wanted to see if I could think about APIs, data storage, and trade-offs at a high level. Behavioral: three questions, STAR format. "Tell me about a time you worked with a difficult teammate." "Describe a project where you had to learn something new under pressure." "Why do you want to work in financial technology?"
I got the offer. Base for the TDP program in 2026 was around $110k in Phoenix, which is where a lot of their tech roles are based. NYC roles pay more. Signing bonus of $10k. The program rotates you through teams over two years which I actually like as a new grad.
Two honest prep tips: grind LeetCode mediums specifically (not hards, not easys), and read up on Amex's recent tech initiatives before behavioral rounds because they want people who actually care about the company not just a job.