Boolean Search Strings by Role: 51 Copy-Paste Examples for LinkedIn, Google, Indeed and Dice

By Sparsh Goyal, Founder at The Cognitive. Published 2026-10-04 · Last updated 2026-10-05

• This page gives 51 Boolean search strings examples, grouped by role family and labelled for LinkedIn Recruiter, LinkedIn basic search, Google X-ray, Indeed or Dice.
• Each engine reads Boolean differently: LinkedIn needs uppercase operators and has no wildcards, Google excludes with a minus and does not document OR, and Dice fills in word endings itself.
• Test a string by running titles plus 1 must-have, reading the first 20 results, then tightening one group per rerun.
• I run The Cognitive, which skips the string: a plain-English brief is read into editable filters across ~900M public profiles; engine facts come from each vendor's help pages, read on 4 October 2026.

These are 51 Boolean search strings examples you can copy today, grouped by role family and labelled with the engine each one is written for: LinkedIn Recruiter, LinkedIn's basic search, a Google X-ray, Indeed or Dice. Every string uses only the operators that engine documents, and each comes with a line on what every part does and how to change it for your role.

Sourcing is worth the effort. In Gem's 2026 benchmarks, sourced candidates are nearly 8 times more likely to be hired than inbound applicants. A string that misses half the title variants gives that edge away.

Full disclosure: I run The Cognitive, which lets you skip the string and type the role as a plain-English brief. That option is near the end. Everything about LinkedIn, Google, Indeed and Dice comes from their own help pages, read on 4 October 2026. I have not run these strings for result counts, so I claim none.

Which operators does each search engine support?

A string that works in LinkedIn can fail silently in Google, so check the engine label before you paste. Here is what each engine documents on its own help page, read on 4 October 2026:

3 rules cover most broken strings. LinkedIn says it "does not support braces { }, brackets [ ], angle brackets < >, or wildcards like asterisks *", so square brackets from a template quietly break the search. Google wants "site:linkedin.com/in/" with no space after the colon. Dice says you do not need an asterisk "because the database already auto populates the various endings". For the full operator reference, see our Boolean search operators guide, and for plan-by-plan limits on LinkedIn, our guide to Boolean on LinkedIn.

How do you read a Boolean query example, part by part?

Every string on this page has the same 3 parts, in the same order. Here is one Boolean query example, taken apart:

("data engineer" OR "analytics engineer") AND (dbt OR Snowflake) NOT (intern OR student)

• The title group. 2 to 5 job titles in quotes, joined by OR inside parentheses. One title finds one spelling of one job.
• The must-have groups. Each AND adds a requirement. Each group holds the skill and its synonyms, joined by OR.
• The exclusion. NOT, or a minus in Google, removes noise such as interns, students or recruiters.

Keep to 3 AND groups on the first run. A 4th requirement is the usual reason a string returns almost nobody. Location goes in the engine's location filter where it has one, and in the string only for a Google X-ray. If you want the theory first, our Boolean search guide for recruiters covers it.

Boolean search strings for software engineers and IT

Tech roles have the most synonyms and the most noise. These 17 strings cover backend, Java, frontend, data, DevOps, mobile and the IT roles recruiters search on Dice. For the tools around them, see our tech recruiting software roundup.

Backend engineers

1. Backend engineer, Go, payments (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("backend engineer" OR "backend developer" OR "software engineer") AND (Go OR Golang) AND (payments OR fintech)

"Go" is also an everyday word, so Golang carries most of the weight. If the pool is thin, drop the payments group first. In my experience a domain word is the requirement people most often leave off a profile.

2. Python backend, London (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("backend engineer" OR "python developer") ("Django" OR "FastAPI") "London" -jobs -recruiter

A space does the job of AND in Google. -jobs and -recruiter clear job posts and agency profiles. Swap Django and FastAPI for Flask if the team runs it.

Java developers

3. Java developer (LinkedIn basic search)

("java developer" OR "java engineer") AND ("spring boot" OR spring) AND (microservices OR kafka) NOT (intern OR student)

This is the Boolean search for a Java developer I would run first. Keep the Spring group only if the team runs Spring, and replace the kafka group with the message queue your team uses.

4. Java developer (Dice)

(java OR j2ee) AND ("spring boot" OR spring OR hibernate) AND (aws OR azure) NOT (intern OR junior)

Dice fills in word endings, so you never need java*. J2EE catches older resumes that predate the Jakarta EE name. Drop the cloud group for on-premise roles.

5. Senior Java developer (Indeed)

"java developer" AND ("spring boot" OR microservices) AND (senior OR lead OR principal)

Indeed's resume search matches words anywhere on the resume, so the seniority group stands in for a title filter. Add staff to that group for companies whose engineering ladder uses it.

Frontend engineers

6. React frontend engineer (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("frontend engineer" OR "front end engineer" OR "UI engineer" OR "frontend developer") AND (React OR ReactJS) AND (TypeScript OR "Next.js")

People spell it frontend and front end, so both go in. I left out hyphens, because LinkedIn says the minus is not officially supported. Swap React for Angular or Vue as needed.

7. Frontend developer (Dice)

(react OR angular OR vue) AND (javascript OR typescript) AND ("front end" OR frontend OR UI)

No title group here: the frameworks do the filtering, and the last group confirms frontend work. Narrow to one framework when the team has a hard requirement.

Data engineers and data scientists

8. Data engineer, modern stack (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("data engineer" OR "analytics engineer" OR "data platform engineer") AND (dbt OR Snowflake OR Databricks) AND (Airflow OR Spark)

The second group is the warehouse, the third is orchestration or processing. If your stack is Google Cloud, put BigQuery in the second group.

9. Machine learning, Toronto (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("data scientist" OR "machine learning engineer") ("PyTorch" OR "TensorFlow") ("PhD" OR "MSc") "Toronto" -jobs

The degree group is optional. Remove it before anything else if results are thin, since many strong engineers never list a postgraduate degree.

DevOps and platform engineers

10. DevOps or SRE (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("devops engineer" OR "site reliability engineer" OR SRE OR "platform engineer") AND (Kubernetes OR K8s) AND (Terraform OR Pulumi) AND (AWS OR GCP OR Azure)

This one has 4 AND groups, so start without the cloud group and add it on the second run. K8s is how many engineers abbreviate Kubernetes.

11. DevOps engineer (Dice)

(devops OR SRE OR "site reliability") AND kubernetes AND terraform AND (jenkins OR "github actions" OR gitlab)

The last group is the CI tool. Remove it entirely if the team will teach its own pipeline.

Mobile engineers

12. iOS engineer (LinkedIn basic search)

("iOS engineer" OR "iOS developer" OR "mobile engineer") AND Swift AND (SwiftUI OR UIKit) NOT (intern OR student)

SwiftUI or UIKit separates people who build apps from people who list Swift once. Add Objective-C to the third group for legacy codebases.

13. Android engineer, Bangalore (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("android engineer" OR "android developer") "Kotlin" ("Jetpack Compose" OR "Coroutines") "Bangalore" -jobs

Add "Bengaluru" to an OR group with the city, since profiles use both names.

14. Cross-platform mobile developer (Indeed)

("mobile developer" OR "app developer") AND ("React Native" OR Flutter) AND (iOS OR Android)

The last group confirms they shipped to a store. Split React Native and Flutter into 2 searches if the team uses only one.

IT candidates on Dice

The best Boolean strings for Dice.com IT candidates use short skill words, because Dice handles the endings. Agencies running these searches all day should also read our IT staffing software comparison.

15. Software engineer, general (Dice)

("software engineer" OR developer OR programmer) AND (python OR golang OR java) AND (aws OR cloud) NOT (intern OR "help desk")

A wide first pass for a generalist role. Replace the language group with the one stack you care about once you see the volume.

16. Linux systems administrator (Dice)

("systems administrator" OR "system administrator" OR sysadmin) AND (linux OR "red hat" OR RHEL) AND (vmware OR ansible) NOT ("help desk" OR helpdesk)

The NOT group removes support roles that mention Linux once. Keep it only if the role is senior.

17. Network engineer (Dice)

("network engineer" OR "network administrator") AND (CCNP OR CCIE) AND (cisco OR juniper) AND (BGP OR OSPF)

Certifications are a strong signal for network roles. For a junior hire, swap the certification group for CCNA.

Boolean strings for nurses, travel nurses and physicians

Healthcare strings live or die on licences and unit names. Put the state or country in the location filter, and put the licence or certification in the string, since that is how clinicians write it. Our healthcare recruiting software list covers the platforms these searches feed.

Registered nurses with a licence

18. ICU registered nurse (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("registered nurse" OR RN) AND (ICU OR "intensive care" OR "critical care") AND (CCRN OR BSN)

CCRN is the critical care certification and BSN the degree. Use the third group only if the hospital requires one of them, or the string drops experienced nurses who list neither.

19. RN with a compact licence, Texas (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("registered nurse" OR "RN") ("compact license" OR "multistate license" OR "NLC") "Texas" -jobs -hiring

American profiles spell it license, so search that spelling. NLC is the Nurse Licensure Compact. -hiring removes nurse managers posting openings.

Travel nurses

20. Travel nurse, by unit (LinkedIn basic search)

("travel nurse" OR "travel RN" OR "travel registered nurse") AND ("med surg" OR telemetry OR "emergency department" OR ER)

Pick the units you need and delete the rest. Each unit you keep widens the pool, which is the point of an OR group.

21. Travel nurse with a multistate licence (Indeed)

("travel nurse" OR "travel RN") AND ("compact license" OR "multistate license") AND (ICU OR telemetry OR "med surg")

A multistate licence is what makes a travel nurse placeable fast. Drop that group if you will sponsor a single-state licence.

Physicians and nurse practitioners

22. Hospitalist physician (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

(hospitalist OR "internal medicine physician") AND ("board certified" OR ABIM) AND MD

There is no NOT on purpose. Excluding "resident" would remove nearly every physician, since almost all list a residency in their history. MD also abbreviates Maryland, so let the Location filter handle geography.

23. Family physician, Ohio (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("family medicine physician" OR "family physician") "board certified" ("Ohio" OR "Columbus") -jobs -recruiter

Physician profiles are often thin, so keep this string short. Add "DO" only inside a quoted phrase such as "osteopathic physician", because DO on its own matches the everyday word.

24. Family nurse practitioner (Indeed)

("nurse practitioner" OR FNP OR "family nurse practitioner") AND (DEA OR "prescriptive authority") AND ("primary care" OR "urgent care")

The DEA group finds practitioners who can prescribe controlled substances. Swap the setting group for "telehealth" for a remote role.

Boolean strings for SDRs, account executives and enterprise sales

Sales titles attract recruiters and job posts, so these strings exclude both. They also lean on proof words such as quota and named sales methods.

Sales development reps

25. SDR or BDR, SaaS (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("sales development representative" OR SDR OR "business development representative" OR BDR) AND (SaaS OR software) AND (Salesloft OR Outreach OR "cold calling")

Salesloft and Outreach are sales engagement tools SDRs list. Outreach is also an ordinary word, so expect some noise from it.

26. SDR, Austin (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("SDR" OR "BDR" OR "sales development") "SaaS" "Austin" -jobs -recruiter

Short and broad on purpose: SDR profiles are brief. Add a minus for the big employer in your city if one company floods the results.

Account executives

27. Mid-market account executive (LinkedIn basic search)

("account executive" OR "mid market account executive") AND (SaaS OR "B2B software") AND (quota OR "presidents club" OR "president's club")

The third group looks for people who mention hitting a number. Both spellings of President's Club go in, because profiles use both.

28. Account executive (Indeed)

"account executive" AND (SaaS OR software) AND (quota OR "full cycle") NOT (retail OR "store manager")

Resume search pulls in retail and media sales titles that share the words. The NOT group removes most of them.

Enterprise sales

29. Enterprise account executive (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("enterprise account executive" OR "strategic account executive" OR "enterprise sales") AND (MEDDIC OR MEDDPICC OR "Challenger") AND ("Fortune 500" OR "Global 2000")

MEDDIC and MEDDPICC are qualification methods enterprise sellers list. Put target employers in the Companies filter rather than the string.

30. Enterprise security sales (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("enterprise account executive" OR "strategic account director") ("MEDDIC" OR "MEDDPICC") ("cybersecurity" OR "security") -jobs -recruiter

Change the last group to your vertical, such as "healthcare" or "fintech". Keep it to one vertical per run.

Boolean strings for accountants, CPAs and FP&A

Finance profiles list qualifications plainly, so the qualification group does most of the filtering. Add regional equivalents when you hire outside the US.

Accountants and CPAs

31. Accountant with a CPA (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("senior accountant" OR "staff accountant" OR "accounting manager") AND (CPA OR "certified public accountant") AND (NetSuite OR SAP OR Oracle)

The third group is the ERP. Replace it with QuickBooks or Xero for a small company role.

32. CPA with Big 4 experience, Chicago (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("CPA" OR "certified public accountant") ("Deloitte" OR "PwC" OR "EY" OR "KPMG") "Chicago" -jobs

Naming the 4 firms works better than "Big 4", which few people write. Add -intern if the results skew junior.

33. Staff accountant (Indeed)

("staff accountant" OR "senior accountant") AND (CPA OR "CPA candidate") AND ("month end close" OR reconciliations OR GAAP)

"CPA candidate" catches people sitting the exams. Remove the CPA group if the role does not need one.

34. Financial controller, UK or EU (LinkedIn basic search)

("financial controller" OR "assistant controller" OR controller) AND (ACA OR ACCA OR CIMA OR CPA) AND (IFRS OR "US GAAP")

ACA, ACCA and CIMA are the UK qualifications that do a CPA's job. Keep IFRS for European roles and swap in "US GAAP" alone for American subsidiaries.

FP&A

35. FP&A analyst or manager (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("FP&A" OR "financial planning and analysis" OR "finance business partner") AND (forecasting OR budgeting) AND (Anaplan OR Adaptive OR "advanced Excel")

Search engines can drop the ampersand, so the spelled-out title sits next to FP&A. Adaptive and Anaplan are planning tools; add Pigment if your team uses it.

36. FP&A manager, New York (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("FP&A manager" OR "financial planning and analysis manager") "SaaS" "New York" -jobs -recruiter

"SaaS" narrows to subscription businesses, whose forecasting work differs. Drop it for manufacturing or retail finance.

Boolean strings for product designers and UX

Designers describe tools and outputs more than titles, so these strings anchor on Figma and the work itself.

37. Product designer (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("product designer" OR "UX designer" OR "UI/UX designer" OR "interaction designer") AND Figma AND ("design system" OR prototyping)

Figma works as a check for current tools; put it in an OR group with Sketch for older teams. Swap the last group for "user research" if the role is research-heavy.

38. Product designer, fintech, Lisbon (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ "product designer" "Figma" ("fintech" OR "B2B") "Lisbon" -jobs

The domain group is the first thing to delete if results are thin. Portfolios matter more than profile wording for design.

39. UX researcher (LinkedIn basic search)

("UX researcher" OR "user researcher" OR "design researcher") AND ("usability testing" OR "user interviews") AND (B2B OR SaaS)

The method group separates researchers from designers who list research once. Add "quantitative" for survey-heavy roles.

40. UX designer (Indeed)

("UX designer" OR "user experience designer") AND (Figma OR Sketch) AND (wireframes OR prototypes)

Resumes describe deliverables, so wireframes and prototypes match well here. Add "accessibility" for public sector work.

41. Design lead (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("design manager" OR "head of design" OR "lead product designer" OR "principal designer") AND "design system" AND (mentoring OR "managed a team")

The last group splits people managers from senior individual contributors. Remove it if you want either.

Boolean strings for operations and HR roles

Operations and HR titles vary by company size, so the title groups here are wider than elsewhere.

42. Warehouse operations manager (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("operations manager" OR "warehouse manager" OR "site manager") AND (lean OR "six sigma") AND (warehouse OR "distribution center" OR logistics)

Lean and Six Sigma signal process improvement. Add "distribution centre" for UK profiles.

43. Supply chain planner (Indeed)

("supply chain analyst" OR "supply chain planner" OR "demand planner") AND (SAP OR Oracle) AND (forecasting OR "S&OP")

S&OP is sales and operations planning; add the spelled-out phrase in case the ampersand is dropped.

44. HR business partner (LinkedIn basic search)

("HR business partner" OR HRBP OR "people partner") AND ("employee relations" OR "organizational design" OR "organisational design")

Both spellings of organisational cover US and UK profiles. Add "change management" for a transformation role.

45. Technical recruiter, Berlin (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("technical recruiter" OR "talent acquisition partner") ("engineering" OR "software") "Berlin" -jobs

There is no -recruiter here, for obvious reasons. Add -agency if you want in-house recruiters only.

46. Payroll specialist (Indeed)

("payroll specialist" OR "payroll administrator") AND (ADP OR Workday OR Paylocity) AND ("multi state" OR multistate)

The system group finds people who already know your payroll software. Drop the multistate group if every employee sits in one state.

47. Customer success manager (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("customer success manager" OR "customer success" OR "account manager") AND SaaS AND (renewals OR "net revenue retention" OR churn)

I spelled the title out because CSM also means Certified ScrumMaster. The last group finds people who owned a retention number.

Boolean strings for executive search

Executive titles come in many forms, and stage words such as "Series B" do more than skill words. Keep these strings short and let the Companies filter carry the target list. Retained firms usually run them inside dedicated executive search software.

48. VP Engineering (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("VP Engineering" OR "VP of Engineering" OR "Vice President of Engineering" OR "Head of Engineering") AND (SaaS OR platform) AND ("Series B" OR "Series C" OR scaleup)

The stage group finds leaders who have scaled a team at your size. Swap it for "IPO" or "public company" for a later-stage search.

49. CFO, growth stage (Google X-ray)

site:linkedin.com/in/ ("CFO" OR "chief financial officer") ("Series B" OR "Series C" OR "IPO") "SaaS" -jobs -recruiter

Add a city or country in quotes when the role is not remote. Fractional CFOs will appear; add -fractional to remove them.

50. Chief revenue officer or VP Sales (LinkedIn basic search)

("chief revenue officer" OR CRO OR "VP Sales" OR "VP of Sales") AND SaaS AND (ARR OR "go to market") NOT clinical

CRO also stands for contract research organisation in life sciences. NOT clinical removes most of that noise.

51. Chief people officer or CHRO (LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords)

("chief people officer" OR CHRO OR "VP People" OR "head of people") AND (acquisition OR "M&A" OR IPO)

The last group finds people leaders who ran HR through a deal. Swap it for "international expansion" if that is the real brief.

How do you test and refine a Boolean string?

A string is a hypothesis about how candidates describe themselves. You prove it by reading results, not by counting them. This is the loop I use:

1. Start broad. Run the title group and 1 must-have group only. If that returns too few people, the problem is the title list, and no amount of AND will fix it.
2. Read the first 20 results. Mark each one yes, maybe or no. Note the words the yes profiles use that your string does not.
3. Add the words you found. Missing titles go into the title group; missing skill spellings go into the matching OR group.
4. Tighten one thing per rerun. Add the 2nd must-have group, read 20 again, then the 3rd. If you change 2 things at once, you cannot tell which one moved the results.
5. Exclude last. Look at the no profiles and find the word they share, such as intern, recruiter or a competitor's product name. Use NOT, or a minus in Google, on that word only.
6. Save the version that worked. Name it by role and engine. Next time you hire the same role, start from it.

Two checks before you hit search. Look for lowercase and, or and not, which LinkedIn treats as ordinary words. Then count your brackets: every ( needs a ). Our free Boolean search generator checks both for you and writes separate strings for LinkedIn Recruiter, LinkedIn and Google X-ray. The same page compares it with other free generators side by side. For Google-only technique, see our Google X-ray search guide and LinkedIn X-ray search guide.

The reason to read and not count is volume. Ashby's 2026 report says the average recruiter is processing 291 applications per hire, compared to roughly 100 in early 2021. A string that returns 2,000 loose matches recreates that pile in your sourcing tab.

Can you skip the string and describe the role instead?

Yes. The Cognitive takes the role as one plain-English sentence and reads it into editable filters, then searches ~900M public profiles. I typed "Senior backend engineer with 5+ years of Go who has built payments systems, Remote EU" into the live app. "Remote EU" came back as a location filter reading Germany +7: Germany plus 7 other countries. That is the OR group of countries you would otherwise type by hand.

The search runs in 2 phases. The app shows "Reading your brief and finding relevant candidates…", then "Ranking candidates based on your requirements…". Every person found is judged against each must-have in your brief, and anyone who misses one drops below the people who meet them. A Boolean AND works differently: a near-miss never appears at all. In The Cognitive you still see who nearly fit, lower down.

Each result card opens with a "Why this match" line, 1 or 2 reasons traced to the profile, such as "Go listed in skills". When the pool is thin, the search relaxes its softest filters and tells you what it broadened. Later searches for the same role skip people you have already seen.

The trade-offs are real. A precision-first search returns fewer people than a loose string. It does not search your ATS history, and there is no Chrome extension. Outreach by email and SMS needs the Sourcing Pro plan, and there is no LinkedIn InMail.

Pricing is on our pricing page: 1 credit per candidate a search returns, 5 to reveal an email and 10 to reveal a phone number, charged only when a value comes back. AI Sourcing starts at $49/month, cancel anytime. There is a free trial with 100 sourcing credits.

Paste the brief, not the string Describe the role in one sentence and see every person judged against your must-haves across ~900M public profiles. Start free

Who is The Cognitive built for?

The Cognitive is built for the in-house recruiter or small agency that sources every week and keeps rewriting strings for roles where the must-haves are clear but the vocabulary is not. It suits a team that wants AI sourcing with a ranked short list and contact reveals in one self-serve account. Keep what already works:

• Keep these strings. They are free and exact, and Dice, Indeed and most ATSs still run on Boolean.
• Keep your LinkedIn seat if InMail is your channel. The Cognitive reaches people by email and SMS on Sourcing Pro, never InMail.
• Keep your ATS. The Cognitive connects to 60+ ATSs through one unified integration. It does not search your ATS history, so keep Boolean for rediscovering past applicants there.

My rule of thumb: write a string when you know the vocabulary and need hard exclusions. Write a brief when you are opening a kind of role you have not hired before. To compare, run your hardest open role both ways and count the people you would actually contact.

Run your hardest role as a brief One sentence, read into filters you can edit, ranked against your must-haves. Start free

Sources

• LinkedIn Help, Use Boolean search on LinkedIn, read on 4 October 2026.
• LinkedIn Help, Use Boolean to filter search results in Recruiter and Recruiter Lite, read on 4 October 2026.
• Google Search Help, Refine Google searches, read on 4 October 2026.
• Google Search Central, Google Search operators, last updated 10 December 2025, read on 4 October 2026.
• Indeed, What is Boolean search?, last updated 28 August 2025, read on 4 October 2026.
• Dice, Build Better Boolean Search Strings, 26 March 2024, read on 4 October 2026.
• Gem, Key takeaways from the 2026 Recruiting Benchmarks Report, 1 December 2025, read on 4 October 2026.
• Ashby, Recruiter Productivity, Talent Trends Report, 28 April 2026, read on 4 October 2026.

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