How do I find out who the hiring manager is for a job?

Start with the job post: look for a reports-to line, a team name and, on LinkedIn, the Meet the hiring team section. Then search the company’s LinkedIn People tab for the title one level above the role, check the company’s team pages and blog, and confirm the person’s current title and team before you write. If you still cannot tell, ask the recruiter which team owns the role.

How do I find a recruiter at a specific company on LinkedIn?

Type recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "talent partner" into the LinkedIn search bar, choose People, and add the company under the Current company filter. Many companies split recruiting by function, so for an engineering role look for a technical recruiter, and for a sales role a sales or go-to-market recruiter.

Is it OK to message a hiring manager directly on LinkedIn?

Yes, as long as the posting does not ask candidates not to contact the team. Apply through the official channel first, then send one short, specific note that names the role and gives one reason you fit. On a free LinkedIn account you can only message people you are connected to, so this usually means a connection request with a short note; InMail to people outside your network is a Premium feature. Follow up once at most, and do not message several people at the same company on the same day.

What if I cannot find the hiring manager’s name?

Message the recruiter instead and ask which team the role sits in; routing candidates is part of their job. If you are writing a cover letter, address it to the team, such as Dear Payments Engineering Hiring Team, rather than guessing a name. A correct team name reads better than the wrong person’s name.

Should I contact the hiring manager before or after applying?

Usually after. Once you have applied, the hiring manager or recruiter can find your application in their system, and your message adds context to something real. The exception is when someone at the company offers to refer you, in which case ask them which order works at their company.

How to Find the Hiring Manager for a Job on LinkedIn

To find the hiring manager for a job, start with the posting itself: look for a “reports to” line, the team name and, on LinkedIn, the “Meet the hiring team” section. Next, search the company’s LinkedIn People tab for the title one level above the role, run a Google search if LinkedIn hides what you need, and check the company’s own team pages and blog. Before you write, confirm the person’s current title, team and location match the job. Then apply through the official channel and send one short, specific message. The seven steps, search strings and templates below cover each part.

Hiring manager or recruiter: who you’re looking for

The hiring manager is the person the new hire will report to. They usually wrote or approved the job description and have the final say. The recruiter runs the process: screening applications, scheduling interviews and keeping candidates moving. At a small company, the founder or team lead may do both jobs. In most cases you want both names, for different reasons.

Person	What they do	Contact them to
Hiring manager	Leads the team the role sits in and decides who gets the offer	Show you understand the team’s work and fit the role
In-house recruiter	Screens applicants and manages the hiring process for the company	Confirm your application is in the right pipeline and ask about timing
Agency recruiter	Works for a staffing firm the company hired to fill the role	Ask whether they are working the role and what the client wants

Step 1: Read the job post for clues

Most postings tell you more than they seem to. Before you open a search bar, note down:

The “reports to” line. “Reports to the Director of Customer Success” hands you the exact title to search for.
The team or product name. “Join the Payments Platform team” narrows a company of thousands down to one group.
Location and level. A senior role based in Toronto points you toward managers in the same function in that office or time zone.
A recruiter’s name or email. Some postings sign off with a recruiter’s name or give an address for questions. Even a first-name address tells you who to look up.
The “Meet the hiring team” section. On LinkedIn, a job page may show this section. As of 2026-09, LinkedIn Help says it lists the job poster and members of the hiring team, and that you can connect with and message them. If it’s there, you have your recruiter and sometimes the hiring manager too.

If you found the job on a company careers site, search LinkedIn Jobs for the same title at the same company. The LinkedIn copy may show who posted it.

Step 2: Search the company’s People tab on LinkedIn

A company’s LinkedIn page lists the members who say they work there. As of 2026-09, LinkedIn Help explains that members appear on it when they add the company to their work experience, and that you can click the employee count to see who is associated with the page.

Open the company’s LinkedIn page and go to the People tab, or click the employee count.
In the tab’s search box, type the function, such as “engineering”, “marketing” or “finance”.
Scan for the level above the role. A Senior Product Designer usually reports to a Design Manager, Design Lead or Head of Design.
Open the likely profiles and read the headline, About section and current role for a team name.

For the recruiter, type “recruiter” or “talent” in the same box. Larger companies often split recruiting by function, so a technical recruiter is more likely to own an engineering role than a generalist.

Step 3: Use LinkedIn search strings

When the People tab returns hundreds of names, switch to LinkedIn’s main search bar. As of 2026-09, LinkedIn supports Boolean search: AND, OR and NOT typed in capitals, quotation marks for exact phrases and parentheses to group terms. It does not support wildcards such as asterisks. Type the title terms, choose People, then add the company under the Current company filter. Using the filter instead of typing the company name keeps out people who left years ago.

What you want	Type in LinkedIn search	Then filter by
Hiring manager for an engineering role	`("engineering manager" OR "head of engineering")`	People, Current company
Hiring manager for a marketing role	`("marketing manager" OR "head of marketing" OR "marketing director")`	People, Current company, Locations
Any recruiter at a company	`(recruiter OR "talent acquisition" OR "talent partner")`	People, Current company
A recruiter for one function	`("technical recruiter" OR "engineering recruiter")`	People, Current company
Team leads, without interns or contractors	`("product lead" OR "group product manager") NOT (intern OR contract)`	People, Current company

LinkedIn also has an “Actively hiring” people filter, but as of 2026-09 LinkedIn lists it as a Premium feature. Without it, search for the job title plus the word “hiring” and switch the results to Posts. A manager who wrote “my team is hiring” last week has just told you who they are.

Step 4: Search Google to fill the gaps

If LinkedIn’s search limits what you can see, Google often fills the gaps. Google’s own search help page covers the three operators you need: quotation marks for an exact phrase, site: to search one website, and a minus sign to exclude a word, with no space after the colon. Swap “Acme” for the company:

site:linkedin.com/in "Acme" "engineering manager" finds public profiles with both phrases.
site:linkedin.com/in "Acme" "technical recruiter" does the same for recruiters.
site:linkedin.com/posts "Acme" "hiring" "data engineer" surfaces public posts about the opening.
site:acme.com leadership finds the company’s own leadership or team page.
"Acme" "head of data" interview -jobs finds podcasts and interviews with a named leader, minus job listings.

Google only shows what it has indexed, and Google’s documentation notes that a site: search doesn’t necessarily return every page. Treat each result as a lead to check, not an answer.

Step 5: Check team pages, blogs and talks

Team and leadership pages. Try the company’s About, Team or Leadership pages. Smaller companies sometimes list managers by name.
Engineering, design and product blogs. Author bylines tell you who leads which team and what they care about, which is useful for your message too.
Conference talks, podcasts and webinars. Speaker bios usually give an exact title and team.
Press releases and news. An announcement of a new office, product or leader often names the person building the team.

Step 6: Work backwards from people in the same role

Search the People tab for the exact title in the posting. The people who hold that title now likely report to the person you want. Their profiles and posts often name the team, and team announcements often tag the manager. If one of them joined recently, they may be happy to tell you who they report to, and they are also a good person to ask about the team.

Step 7: Just ask

When research runs dry, ask. A recruiter at the company, a current employee or a mutual connection can usually answer in one line:

Hi [Name], I’m applying for the [Role] role at [Company] ([link]). Do you know which team it sits in, or who the hiring manager is? Thanks either way. [Your name]

If the person you ask knows your work, this may also be the moment to ask for more. Our guide on how to ask for a referral has a message for each kind of connection.

How to confirm you have the right person

A name from a search is a guess until you check it. Look for at least two signals that agree.

Signal	What it suggests	How much to trust it
Listed under “Meet the hiring team” on the job post	Involved in hiring for this exact role	Strong
Posted about this opening, with the same title or link	Hiring for it now	Strong
Current title matches the posting’s “reports to” line	Likely the hiring manager	Strong
Same function and team, one level above the role	Probably the manager, or a peer of theirs	Medium
Same office, city or time zone as the role	Supports other signals	Weak on its own
Company appears only under past experience	They have left	Rule them out

Check the start date on their current role as well. LinkedIn says it can take up to 30 days for a company page to catch up after people join or leave, so a recent joiner or leaver can show up in the wrong place. If two or three people still fit, write to the recruiter and ask which team owns the role. Guessing wrong and messaging a peer of the real manager rarely helps.

What to send once you find them

Apply through the official channel first, unless someone at the company tells you otherwise. That way your message points to an application they can actually find. Tailor your resume to the posting before you do, since the hiring manager may open it straight from your message. (In the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, a résumé is called a CV.) Then pick a channel.

Channel	What to know (as of 2026-09)	Best for
LinkedIn connection note	Up to 200 characters, and free accounts can personalize up to three connection requests a month	A hiring manager you’re not connected to
LinkedIn InMail	A Premium feature; basic accounts can only message people they’re connected to	Premium members writing outside their network
Work email	No length limit, but only use an address you’ve seen published or confirmed	A slightly longer note with your resume attached
Reply to the recruiter	They expect questions about the process	Confirming your application and asking about timing

With only three personalized notes a month on a free account, spend them on hiring managers you’ve confirmed, not on guesses.

A connection note to the hiring manager

Hi [Name], I just applied for the [Role] on your team. Your post on [topic] is a big part of why. Would you be open to connecting?

A message to the recruiter

Hi [Name], I applied for [Role] (job ID [ID]) on [date]. I have [number] years in [field] and recently [one result that matches the posting]. Are you the right person for this role, or could you point me to who is? Happy to send anything that helps. [Your name]

A short email to the hiring manager

Subject: [Role] application: [one-line credential]
Hi [Name],
I applied for the [Role] on the [Team] team today. The posting mentions [specific requirement]. At [Company or project], I [what you did] and [the result]. I’ve attached my resume in case it’s useful alongside the application.
If it helps, I’d be glad to talk for 15 minutes about [the problem the team is working on]. Either way, thanks for reading.
[Your name]
[LinkedIn URL]

If you hear nothing, wait about a week and follow up once in the same thread. Our guide to the follow up email after a job application covers timing and wording.

Mistakes that get these messages ignored

Messaging five people at once. Pick the most likely hiring manager and the recruiter. People on the same team compare notes.
Vague asks. “Keep me in mind for anything” gives them nothing to act on. Name the role and include the link.
Hunting down personal contact details. Stick to LinkedIn and work email. A personal phone number or home address is not an appropriate channel.
Ignoring the posting. If it says not to contact the team, don’t.
Faking familiarity. Don’t claim to know them or their work beyond what you’ve actually read.

Keep the name next to the application

The research only pays off if you can find it again in a week, when it’s time to follow up. In Leepo, Contacts and outreach lets you find recruiters or hiring managers and save them against the application you’re tracking, so the name stays next to the job. From there you can draft an intro, referral ask or follow-up that opens in Gmail for you to send, and follow-up reminders and quiet-application nudges tell you when it’s time to write again. You can start free at leepo.ai.

Whatever you use, the method is the same: read the post, search the People tab, confirm two signals, apply, then send one specific message to the right person.