Skip to main content
The Job Search signal has two modes for matching job titles: a simple substring mode and an advanced boolean mode. This guide covers advanced mode — what it can do, and when to reach for each operator.
Description keywords always use advanced syntax — there’s no simple mode. Everything below applies equally to the job title field (in advanced mode) and the description keywords field.

​
Simple vs advanced mode

ModeInputWhat it matches
Simple (default)Head of SalesJobs for the role you typed — word order and minor variations don’t matter
Advanced (toggle on)"Head of Sales" OR "VP Sales"Jobs matching your boolean expression exactly
Switch to advanced mode when:
  • You need to match multiple variations of a title (VP OR Director OR Head)
  • You want to exclude terms (Engineer NOT junior)
  • You care about word proximity (senior <-> engineer)
  • You want a prefix match (engineer:* matches engineer, engineering, engineers)

​
Core boolean operators

​
OR

Finds titles containing either term. 
CEO OR founder
TitleMatches?
CEO & FounderYes
Founder, Acme CorpYes
Chief Executive OfficerNo

​
AND

Finds titles containing both terms. 
senior AND engineer
TitleMatches?
Senior EngineerYes
Senior Product ManagerNo
EngineerNo

​
NOT

Excludes titles containing the term. 
engineer NOT junior
TitleMatches?
Senior EngineerYes
Junior EngineerNo
Software Engineer IIYes

​
Phrases with quotes

Quote multi-word phrases to match them as a unit. 
"Head of Sales"
TitleMatches?
Head of SalesYes
Head of Global SalesNo
Sales HeadNo
In advanced mode, multi-word tokens must be quoted ("senior engineer") or joined with the proximity operator (senior <-> engineer). Bare spaces between words will cause the query to reject your input.

​
Parentheses for grouping

Group terms to control evaluation order. 
(CEO OR founder) AND startup
Without parentheses, this would be interpreted as CEO OR (founder AND startup) — a different query.

​
Advanced operators

These operators extend beyond basic LinkedIn-style boolean search.

​
Proximity: <-> (followed by)

Matches when two terms appear in that order, one after the other. 
senior <-> engineer
TitleMatches?
Senior EngineerYes
Senior Software EngineerNo
Engineer, SeniorNo
Use <-> when word order matters and you want exactly adjacent words. For more flexibility, combine it with phrases: 
"senior software" <-> engineer

​
Distance: <N> (followed by, within N words)

Matches when the first term is followed by the second within N words. 
senior <2> engineer
TitleMatches?
Senior EngineerYes
Senior Software EngineerYes
Senior Product Staff EngineerNo

​
Prefix wildcard: :*

Matches any term that starts with the given prefix. 
engineer:*
TitleMatches?
EngineerYes
Engineering ManagerYes
EngineersYes
Software EngineerYes
DevelopNo
Prefix wildcards work well for catching plural and derived forms without listing each one explicitly.

​
Combining operators

All operators compose. A few real-world patterns:

​
Exact leadership titles, exclude interim roles

("VP Sales" OR "Head of Sales" OR "Chief Revenue Officer") NOT (interim OR acting)

​
Engineering leaders with prefix matching

(engineer:* OR developer:*) AND (lead OR principal OR staff OR head)
Matches Engineering Manager, Software Engineer Lead, Principal Developer, etc. — without listing every variation.

​
Senior roles in a specific function, regardless of title word order

("Customer Success" OR "Account Management") AND (senior:* OR lead OR director)

​
Proximity-aware search

"Head of" <-> (Sales OR Marketing OR Growth)
Matches “Head of Sales”, “Head of Marketing”, “Head of Growth” — but not “Sales, Head of Global”.

​
Operator precedence

Without parentheses, operators evaluate in this order (highest to lowest):
  1. "..." — phrases
  2. :* — prefix wildcards
  3. <-> / <N> — proximity
  4. NOT / -
  5. AND
  6. OR
Example: 
sales OR marketing AND manager
Is interpreted as sales OR (marketing AND manager), not (sales OR marketing) AND manager.
Always add parentheses when you mix operators. They make intent clear and prevent precedence surprises.

​
Common mistakes

​
Bare multi-word tokens

senior engineer
In advanced mode, this is invalid — a bare space between words will reject the query. Use one of these instead:
FixMeaning
"senior engineer"Exact phrase
senior <-> engineerSenior immediately followed by engineer
senior AND engineerBoth words, anywhere in title

​
Lowercase operators

ceo or founder
Operators must be uppercase: OR, AND, NOT. Lowercase words are treated as search terms.

​
Prefix wildcard before the word

*engineer
Prefix wildcards go after the word, not before. Use engineer:* instead.

​
Unbalanced parentheses

(CEO OR founder AND startup
Missing closing paren. Count them as you write.

​
Build your query step by step

1

Start with the simple mode

If a single phrase works, leave advanced mode off. Don’t over-engineer.
2

Flip advanced mode when simple isn't enough

Enable advanced mode the moment you need OR, NOT, or variations.
3

Use phrases for exact matches

Quote anything that’s more than one word: "Head of Sales".
4

Add prefix wildcards for word families

engineer:* is shorter and more complete than engineer OR engineering OR engineers.
5

Exclude noise with NOT

Add NOT junior or NOT intern to keep your signal focused on the seniority level you care about. The seniority filter is a cleaner alternative when it applies.
6

Preview before saving

Click Preview in the dialog. If the first 5 results look right, the full signal will be clean.

​
Quick reference

OperatorSyntaxWhat it does
ORA OR BEither term
ANDA AND BBoth terms
NOTA NOT B or A -BExclude term
Phrase"exact phrase"Multi-word exact match
Group(A OR B) AND CControl precedence
Followed byA <-> BA immediately before B
DistanceA <N> BA within N words before B
Prefixword:*Any term starting with word

Back to the Job Search signal

Return to the full Job Search signal reference.