AECOM Behavioral Interview Template — Engineering Data Analyst (Infrastructure Consulting)

What this interview covers: AECOM evaluates how you deliver client impact in a large, matrixed, multidisciplinary environment spanning transportation, water, buildings, energy and environmental programs. Expect deep dives into collaboration with engineers and project managers, stakeholder management across public- and private-sector clients, data ethics and governance, safety-first mindset, inclusion, and your ability to communicate complex insights to non-technical audiences. Focus areas aligned to AECOM’s culture and delivery model: - Client service and delivery excellence: meeting scope, schedule, budget; supporting proposals and pursuit work; maintaining strong client relationships. - Cross-discipline collaboration: partnering with civil, environmental, and structural engineers, planners, and PMs across offices and time zones. - Data integrity and governance: QA/QC, reproducibility, audit trails, and compliant handling of public-sector and sensitive data. - Safety and ESG: Zero-harm mindset, incorporating safety observations into dashboards, and demonstrating sustainability-conscious decision-making. - Communication and visualization: turning technical findings into clear, decision-ready narratives for city officials, DOTs, utilities, and internal executives. - Inclusion and leadership behaviors: contributing to an equitable, diverse, and inclusive team; mentoring; respectful challenge and feedback. Suggested 60-minute flow (typical of AECOM behavioral screens and panels): 0–3 min: Welcome and quick safety or ESG moment to open. 3–7 min: Role context and project portfolio overview by interviewer(s). 7–35 min: STAR deep dives (4–5 stories) focused on collaboration, ambiguity, and client impact. 35–50 min: Short scenario prompts tied to infrastructure delivery realities. 50–55 min: Your questions for the team (clients, tools, delivery model, growth). 55–60 min: Close, expectations, and next steps. AECOM-specific behavioral prompts you may encounter: 1) Tell us about a time you translated engineering requirements into a data model or dashboard that a non-technical client could act on. 2) Describe a situation where public-sector stakeholders and a contractor had conflicting priorities; how did your analysis help align decisions while maintaining scope and budget? 3) Give an example of improving data quality when field collection was inconsistent (e.g., sensors, survey, or GIS layers). What QA/QC controls did you implement? 4) Walk us through how you communicated risk or uncertainty to a city agency sponsor and influenced a decision timeline. 5) Describe how you ensured compliance and appropriate data use on a project with sensitive environmental or mobility data. 6) Share a moment when you raised a safety or integrity concern revealed by the data. What did you do and what changed? 7) Tell us about working across offices or time zones to deliver a milestone under a tight deadline. 8) How have you contributed to inclusion and a respectful team culture while leading or mentoring others? 9) Describe a time you supported a proposal or interview with analytics that helped win work; what was your role and measurable impact? 10) Tell us about a situation where you were asked to present numbers more favorably; how did you uphold ethics and client trust? What interviewers listen for (rubric themes): - Client impact and ownership: clear problem framing, measurable outcomes, risk management, proactive communication. - Collaboration in a matrix: navigating multiple disciplines and stakeholders, resolving conflicts, accountability. - Data judgment: governance, reproducibility, documentation, appropriate tool selection (e.g., SQL/Python, Power BI/Tableau, GIS). - Communication and storytelling: concise, visual narratives tied to decisions and next steps; tailoring message to audience. - Safety and ESG mindset: integrating safety observations, environmental considerations, and responsible data use. - Inclusion and leadership: respectful challenge, empathy, mentoring, and championing diverse perspectives. Candidate preparation tips tailored to AECOM: - Prepare 5–6 STAR stories spanning transportation, water, and buildings programs with quantifiable outcomes (cost avoided, schedule saved, risk reduced). - Be ready to discuss QA/QC gates, data lineage, and how you document analyses for handover in long-lived infrastructure programs. - Bring examples of stakeholder-ready visuals: before/after dashboards, GIS overlays, or PMO scorecards (scrubbed of client-confidential data).