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Free Boolean Search Generator for Recruiters

Build LinkedIn, Indeed, and Google X-ray strings in seconds, or copy one of 25 ready-made strings for senior US roles below.

Describe your ideal candidate in plain English. Our AI will generate an optimized Boolean search string.

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A Boolean search generator for recruiters turns a role into a search string that LinkedIn, Indeed, and Google understand. Type the role in plain English, or fill in the titles, skills, and exclusions, pick a platform, and copy the result. The string uses AND, OR, and NOT, quotes every multi-word phrase, and groups synonyms in parentheses so the platform reads it the way you meant it.

Two ways to use this page. Generate a string above for a role you are sourcing now. Or scroll to the library: 25 ready-made strings for senior US roles, from staff engineer to controller to ICU nurse, each with a LinkedIn version and a Google X-ray version you can copy in one click.

The strings target experienced candidates. Every LinkedIn string excludes recruiters, because recruiters list the titles they hire for and are the largest source of false positives in any people search.

Boolean syntax by platform

The operators look the same. The exclusion syntax and the limits do not.

LinkedIn

  • AND, OR, NOT in capitals. Lowercase operators are read as keywords.
  • Quotes around any phrase: "Engineering Manager".
  • Parentheses to group synonyms: (SRE OR "Site Reliability Engineer").
  • No wildcards. Write out engineer OR engineers.
  • Works in People search and in Recruiter, which also accepts Boolean inside the title and company filters.

Indeed Resume

  • Same operators as LinkedIn: AND, OR, NOT, quotes, parentheses.
  • Paste a LinkedIn string as it is. Drop the site: prefix from an X-ray string.
  • Best volume for trades, healthcare, and drivers, where LinkedIn is thin.

Google X-ray

  • site:linkedin.com/in limits results to public profiles.
  • OR in capitals. AND is implied by a space.
  • A leading minus excludes: -recruiter. Google ignores the word NOT.
  • intitle: requires a term in the page title, which on LinkedIn is the name and headline.
  • No Recruiter seat and no commercial use limit.

How the generator works

1

Pick the platform

LinkedIn, Google X-ray, Indeed, or a general string for your ATS. The exclusion syntax changes with the platform, so the tool handles it.

2

Describe the search

Plain English works: "senior React engineers in Austin, exclude recruiters." Or switch to manual mode and enter any-of keywords, must-have keywords, exclusions, and location.

3

Copy the string

It comes back with quoted phrases, grouped synonyms, and the right exclusion operator. Paste it into the search box.

Ready-made Boolean strings by role

25 senior US roles. Each has a LinkedIn string and a Google X-ray string, plus a note on when to use it. Change the location filter and the skill group to match your req.

Engineering

Staff Software Engineer Boolean search string

Use when the hiring manager wants an individual contributor above senior who has shipped distributed systems, not a tech lead in title only.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Staff Software Engineer" OR "Staff Engineer" OR "Principal Software Engineer") AND (Go OR Golang OR Java OR Kotlin OR Rust) AND ("distributed systems" OR microservices OR "high availability") NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Staff Software Engineer" OR "Staff Engineer" OR "Principal Software Engineer") ("distributed systems" OR microservices) "United States" -recruiter -"talent acquisition"

Engineering Manager Boolean search string

The people terms filter out senior engineers who hold the title without managing anyone.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Engineering Manager" OR "Software Engineering Manager" OR "Manager, Engineering") AND (hired OR hiring OR "team of" OR "direct reports") AND (SaaS OR platform OR infrastructure) NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "project manager")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Engineering Manager" OR "Software Engineering Manager") ("direct reports" OR "team of" OR hired) "United States" -recruiter -"project manager"

Security Engineer Boolean search string

Use when you need application security rather than SOC or compliance; the AppSec terms do the sorting.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Security Engineer" OR "Application Security Engineer" OR "Product Security Engineer" OR "Senior Security Engineer") AND (AppSec OR "threat modeling" OR "penetration testing" OR SAST OR DAST) AND (AWS OR GCP OR Azure) NOT (recruiter OR "physical security" OR guard)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Security Engineer" OR "Application Security Engineer" OR "Product Security") (AppSec OR "threat modeling" OR "penetration testing") "United States" -recruiter -"physical security"

DevOps or Site Reliability Engineer Boolean search string

Use for production ownership roles; the on-call and SLO terms separate operators from tooling admins.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Site Reliability Engineer" OR SRE OR "DevOps Engineer" OR "Platform Engineer") AND (Kubernetes OR K8s OR Terraform) AND (AWS OR GCP OR Azure) AND ("on-call" OR incident OR SLO OR observability) NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Site Reliability Engineer" OR "DevOps Engineer" OR "Platform Engineer") (Kubernetes OR Terraform) (AWS OR GCP OR Azure) "United States" -recruiter -intern

Senior iOS Engineer Boolean search string

Use when the app is native Swift; add "React Native" to the NOT group if hybrid-only experience is a disqualifier.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("iOS Engineer" OR "iOS Developer" OR "Mobile Engineer") AND (Swift OR SwiftUI OR "Objective-C") AND ("App Store" OR shipped OR launched) AND (senior OR staff OR lead) NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("iOS Engineer" OR "iOS Developer") (Swift OR SwiftUI) (senior OR staff OR lead) "United States" -recruiter -intern

Data

Senior Data Engineer Boolean search string

Pair a warehouse term with an orchestration term; profiles that match both have built pipelines, not just queried them.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Data Engineer" OR "Senior Data Engineer" OR "Staff Data Engineer") AND (Spark OR Databricks OR Snowflake OR BigQuery) AND (Airflow OR dbt OR Kafka) AND (Python OR Scala) NOT (recruiter OR "data entry" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Senior Data Engineer" OR "Staff Data Engineer" OR "Lead Data Engineer") (Spark OR Databricks OR Snowflake) (Airflow OR dbt OR Kafka) "United States" -recruiter -"data entry"

Machine Learning Engineer Boolean search string

The production terms separate engineers who ship models from researchers who publish them.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Machine Learning Engineer" OR "ML Engineer" OR "Applied Scientist") AND (PyTorch OR TensorFlow) AND (production OR deployed OR "model serving" OR MLOps) AND Python NOT (recruiter OR intern OR "research assistant")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Machine Learning Engineer" OR "ML Engineer" OR "Applied Scientist") (PyTorch OR TensorFlow) (production OR MLOps OR "model serving") "United States" -recruiter -intern

Senior Data Scientist Boolean search string

Use for product analytics teams; swap the method terms for NLP or "computer vision" when the role is modeling-heavy.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Senior Data Scientist" OR "Staff Data Scientist" OR "Lead Data Scientist") AND (Python OR R) AND SQL AND ("A/B testing" OR experimentation OR "causal inference" OR forecasting) NOT (recruiter OR intern OR "data entry")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Senior Data Scientist" OR "Staff Data Scientist" OR "Lead Data Scientist") (Python OR R) ("A/B testing" OR experimentation OR "causal inference") "United States" -recruiter -intern

Analytics Engineer Boolean search string

dbt is the tell for this role; a profile without it is usually a BI analyst or a data engineer with a new title.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Analytics Engineer" OR "Senior Analytics Engineer" OR "BI Engineer") AND dbt AND (Snowflake OR BigQuery OR Redshift OR Databricks) AND (Looker OR Tableau OR "Power BI" OR Mode) NOT (recruiter OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Analytics Engineer" OR "Senior Analytics Engineer") dbt (Snowflake OR BigQuery OR Redshift) "United States" -recruiter -intern

Product and design

Senior Product Manager Boolean search string

Excluding project manager and product marketing removes the two titles that flood every PM search.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Senior Product Manager" OR "Principal Product Manager" OR "Group Product Manager" OR "Lead Product Manager") AND (B2B OR SaaS OR enterprise OR platform) AND (roadmap OR launched OR "0 to 1" OR "zero to one") NOT (recruiter OR "product marketing" OR "project manager" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Senior Product Manager" OR "Principal Product Manager" OR "Group Product Manager") (B2B OR SaaS OR enterprise) "United States" -recruiter -"product marketing" -"project manager"

Product Designer Boolean search string

Use when you want a designer who owns flows end to end; the design system and research terms filter out visual-only portfolios.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Product Designer" OR "Senior Product Designer" OR "Staff Product Designer" OR "UX Designer") AND Figma AND ("design system" OR prototyping OR "user research" OR "end-to-end") AND (SaaS OR B2B OR mobile OR fintech) NOT (recruiter OR "print designer" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Product Designer" OR "Senior Product Designer" OR "Staff Product Designer") Figma ("design system" OR prototyping OR "user research") "United States" -recruiter -intern

UX Researcher Boolean search string

Excluding market research keeps survey vendors and brand researchers out of a product research search.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("UX Researcher" OR "User Researcher" OR "Senior UX Researcher" OR "Design Researcher") AND ("usability testing" OR "user interviews" OR "mixed methods" OR ethnographic) AND (B2B OR SaaS OR enterprise OR consumer) NOT (recruiter OR "market research" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("UX Researcher" OR "User Researcher" OR "Design Researcher") ("usability testing" OR "mixed methods" OR "user interviews") "United States" -recruiter -intern

Sales and marketing

Enterprise Account Executive Boolean search string

Quota and club terms surface reps who publish their numbers, which is the strongest signal you can get before a call.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Enterprise Account Executive" OR "Strategic Account Executive" OR "Senior Account Executive") AND (SaaS OR software) AND (quota OR "President's Club" OR attainment) AND ("Fortune 500" OR enterprise OR "six-figure" OR "seven-figure") NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Enterprise Account Executive" OR "Strategic Account Executive") (SaaS OR software) (quota OR "President's Club" OR attainment) "United States" -recruiter -"talent acquisition"

Sales Engineer Boolean search string

Excluding field service keeps industrial equipment engineers out of a software SE search.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Sales Engineer" OR "Solutions Engineer" OR "Solutions Consultant" OR "Pre-Sales Engineer" OR "Presales Engineer") AND (SaaS OR software OR cloud) AND (demo OR demos OR POC OR "proof of concept" OR RFP) AND (API OR APIs OR integration OR integrations) NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "field service")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Sales Engineer" OR "Solutions Engineer" OR "Solutions Consultant") (SaaS OR software OR cloud) (demo OR POC OR "proof of concept") "United States" -recruiter -"field service"

Growth Marketer Boolean search string

Pick B2B or DTC before you run it; growth marketers rarely cross that line well.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Growth Marketing Manager" OR "Head of Growth" OR "Growth Lead" OR "Performance Marketing Manager" OR "Demand Generation Manager") AND ("paid acquisition" OR "paid social" OR "paid search" OR CAC OR "lifecycle marketing") AND (B2B OR SaaS OR DTC OR D2C) NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Growth Marketing Manager" OR "Head of Growth" OR "Performance Marketing Manager") ("paid acquisition" OR "paid social" OR CAC) (B2B OR SaaS OR DTC) "United States" -recruiter -intern

Enterprise Customer Success Manager Boolean search string

The retention terms separate CSMs who own revenue from support reps who carry the title.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Customer Success Manager" OR "Enterprise Customer Success Manager" OR "Strategic Customer Success Manager" OR "Senior Customer Success Manager") AND (SaaS OR software) AND ("net retention" OR NRR OR renewal OR renewals OR expansion OR upsell) AND (enterprise OR "Fortune 500" OR strategic) NOT (recruiter OR "customer service" OR "call center" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Enterprise Customer Success Manager" OR "Strategic Customer Success Manager" OR "Senior Customer Success Manager") (SaaS OR software) ("net retention" OR NRR OR renewals) "United States" -recruiter -"call center"

Finance and operations

VP Finance Boolean search string

Use for a venture-backed company; the fundraising and series terms find finance leaders who have been through a raise.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("VP Finance" OR "Vice President of Finance" OR "VP of Finance" OR "Head of Finance") AND (SaaS OR software OR technology OR startup) AND ("FP&A" OR "financial planning and analysis" OR fundraising OR "Series B" OR "Series C") AND (CPA OR MBA OR "investment banking") NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "financial advisor")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("VP Finance" OR "Vice President of Finance" OR "VP of Finance") (SaaS OR software OR startup) ("FP&A" OR fundraising OR "Series B" OR "Series C") "United States" -recruiter -"financial advisor"

Controller Boolean search string

Controller collides with air traffic, document, and quality controllers; the CPA and GAAP terms plus the NOT group keep it to accounting.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

(Controller OR "Corporate Controller" OR "Assistant Controller" OR "Financial Controller") AND CPA AND ("month-end close" OR "month end close" OR GAAP OR "revenue recognition" OR "ASC 606") AND (NetSuite OR "Sage Intacct" OR QuickBooks OR SAP OR Oracle) NOT (recruiter OR "air traffic" OR "document controller" OR "quality controller")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in (Controller OR "Corporate Controller" OR "Assistant Controller") CPA (GAAP OR "month-end close" OR "ASC 606") (NetSuite OR "Sage Intacct" OR SAP) "United States" -recruiter -"air traffic" -"document controller"

FP&A Manager Boolean search string

Add the planning tool your finance team runs; a tool match cuts ramp time for this role more than an industry match does.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("FP&A Manager" OR "Manager, FP&A" OR "Financial Planning and Analysis Manager" OR "Senior FP&A Manager" OR "Director of FP&A") AND (budgeting OR forecasting OR "variance analysis" OR "financial modeling") AND (Adaptive OR Anaplan OR Planful OR Pigment OR Excel) NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR intern)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("FP&A Manager" OR "Senior FP&A Manager" OR "Director of FP&A" OR "Financial Planning and Analysis") (forecasting OR "variance analysis" OR "financial modeling") (Adaptive OR Anaplan OR Planful) "United States" -recruiter -intern

Healthcare

ICU Registered Nurse Boolean search string

CCRN requires at least 1,750 hours of direct critical care, so use it as the quality filter rather than years listed.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Registered Nurse" OR RN) AND (ICU OR "Intensive Care Unit" OR "Critical Care" OR MICU OR SICU OR CVICU OR "Neuro ICU") AND (BSN OR CCRN OR ACLS) NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "account manager" OR sales)

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Registered Nurse" OR RN) (ICU OR "Intensive Care" OR "Critical Care" OR CVICU) (BSN OR CCRN) "United States" -recruiter -"talent acquisition"

Nurse Practitioner Boolean search string

Use for outpatient and urgent care; swap the setting terms for ICU or "acute care" when you need an acute care NP.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Nurse Practitioner" OR NP OR FNP OR AGNP OR APRN) AND ("FNP-C" OR "FNP-BC" OR AGACNP OR "board certified" OR ANCC OR AANP) AND ("primary care" OR "urgent care" OR "family medicine" OR "internal medicine") NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "NP student")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Nurse Practitioner" OR FNP OR APRN) ("FNP-C" OR "FNP-BC" OR "board certified") ("primary care" OR "urgent care" OR "family medicine") "United States" -recruiter -"NP student"

Pharmacist Boolean search string

Split the setting terms before you run it; hospital and retail pharmacists rarely switch, so one string for both wastes screens.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

(Pharmacist OR "Clinical Pharmacist" OR "Staff Pharmacist" OR "Pharmacist in Charge") AND (PharmD OR "Doctor of Pharmacy") AND (hospital OR "health system" OR inpatient OR "specialty pharmacy" OR retail) NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "sales representative")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in (Pharmacist OR "Clinical Pharmacist" OR "Staff Pharmacist") (PharmD OR "Doctor of Pharmacy") (hospital OR inpatient OR "specialty pharmacy") "United States" -recruiter -"sales representative"

Skilled trades

Journeyman Electrician Boolean search string

Trades profiles are sparse on LinkedIn, so keep the skill group short and put your metro in the location filter instead of the string.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("Journeyman Electrician" OR "Journeyman Wireman" OR "Licensed Electrician" OR "Master Electrician") AND (commercial OR industrial OR residential) AND (NEC OR conduit OR troubleshooting OR IBEW) NOT (recruiter OR "electrical engineer" OR "talent acquisition")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("Journeyman Electrician" OR "Journeyman Wireman" OR "Master Electrician") (commercial OR industrial) (NEC OR conduit OR IBEW) "United States" -recruiter -"electrical engineer"

HVAC Technician Boolean search string

EPA 608 is required by law to handle refrigerant, so a profile without it is junior or not listing certs; NATE marks the top tier.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("HVAC Technician" OR "HVAC Service Technician" OR "HVAC Mechanic" OR "HVAC/R Technician" OR "Refrigeration Technician") AND ("EPA 608" OR "EPA Universal" OR NATE OR "EPA certified") AND (commercial OR residential OR "rooftop units" OR chillers OR "heat pumps") NOT (recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "sales representative")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("HVAC Technician" OR "HVAC Service Technician" OR "HVAC Mechanic") ("EPA 608" OR NATE OR "EPA Universal") (commercial OR residential) "United States" -recruiter -"sales representative"

CDL Driver Boolean search string

Most CDL drivers are not on LinkedIn; use this for the ones who are, then move the endorsement group to Indeed Resume search where the volume is.

LinkedIn paste into People search or Recruiter

("CDL Driver" OR "CDL-A Driver" OR "Class A Driver" OR "OTR Driver" OR "Truck Driver") AND ("Class A" OR "CDL-A" OR "CDL A") AND (tanker OR hazmat OR flatbed OR "dry van" OR reefer OR doubles) NOT (recruiter OR "driver recruiter" OR "talent acquisition")

Google X-ray paste into Google

site:linkedin.com/in ("CDL Driver" OR "CDL-A Driver" OR "Class A Driver" OR "OTR Driver") ("Class A" OR "CDL-A") (tanker OR hazmat OR flatbed OR reefer) "United States" -recruiter -"driver recruiter"

25 roles. LinkedIn strings use AND, OR, and NOT. X-ray strings use Google syntax: OR in caps, a leading minus to exclude, and site:linkedin.com/in to limit results to profiles.

Five Boolean mistakes that hide good candidates

  • Lowercase operators

    LinkedIn reads "and" as a keyword. Write AND, OR, NOT in capitals, every time.

  • Unquoted phrases

    Engineering Manager without quotes matches anyone with both words anywhere in their profile. Quote it.

  • Too many AND groups

    Each AND group cuts the pool. Four groups on a senior title often returns under 20 profiles. Remove one group at a time until the volume is right.

  • Excluding past titles

    NOT "account manager" also removes every AE who was one. Exclude only what disqualifies the person today, such as recruiter.

  • One string for every platform

    Google ignores NOT and needs a minus. LinkedIn has no wildcards. Build one string per platform, or use the library, which does.

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Boolean search FAQ

Is this Boolean search generator free?
Yes. There is no signup and no account. The 25 role strings in the library are also free to copy.
Does LinkedIn support Boolean search?
Yes. LinkedIn People search and LinkedIn Recruiter accept AND, OR, and NOT in capitals, quoted phrases, and parentheses. LinkedIn does not support wildcards, so write out each variant: engineer OR engineers.
What is a Google X-ray search?
An X-ray search uses the site: operator to search inside one website. site:linkedin.com/in plus your keywords returns public LinkedIn profiles without a Recruiter seat and without the commercial use limit. Use OR in capitals and a leading minus to exclude. Google ignores the word NOT.
Do these strings work on Indeed Resume?
Yes. Indeed accepts AND, OR, NOT, quotes, and parentheses, so the LinkedIn strings paste in as they are. For trades, healthcare, and drivers, Indeed usually returns more profiles than LinkedIn.
Why does my Boolean string return zero results?
Three causes cover most cases: a lowercase operator, a typo inside a quoted phrase, or too many AND groups. Check the capitals first, then remove one AND group at a time until results appear.
Should every string exclude recruiters?
On LinkedIn, yes. Recruiters list the titles they hire for, so NOT recruiter removes the largest group of false positives in a people search. Add "talent acquisition" and "staffing" if the results are still noisy.
Can I use these strings in LinkedIn Recruiter?
Yes. Recruiter accepts the same syntax and adds field-level Boolean. Put the title group in the Job title filter and the skill group in Keywords for tighter results than one long string.