Boolean search strings for electrical engineers: power, controls, hardware and the electrician overlap

Electrical engineering splits into jobs that barely overlap. A protection engineer sets relays for a utility, a building electrical engineer lays out power and lighting in Revit, a controls engineer programs PLCs on a packaging line and a hardware engineer designs circuit boards. All of them may be titled "electrical engineer," and all of them get mixed with electricians, lineworkers and electrical technicians in a careless search.

The fix is to search the specialty's software and vocabulary, then exclude the trades. Below are ten strings organized that way, and what LinkedIn, Indeed, Dice and Google support as of October 2026. If the client actually needs licensed tradespeople, see Boolean search strings for electricians.

Specialties, tools and credentials that change what an electrical search finds

• PE licensure runs through NCEES and the state boards. NCEES's PE exam page lists three Electrical and Computer modules as of October 2026: Power, Electrical and Electronics, and Computer Engineering. The FE exam generally comes first. State boards issue the license; NCEES keeps a directory of member boards, and each board runs its own lookup.
• EIT and EI are the same stage. Depending on the state, someone who has passed the FE may hold an engineer in training (EIT) or engineer intern (EI) certificate. Search both.
• Hardware and controls engineers rarely hold a PE. Licensure matters most where drawings get sealed, such as building, utility and public-works design. Requiring it for a board designer will empty the search.

Ten Boolean strings by electrical specialty

Swap in the tools and industry from your own intake; these are examples.

Power, utility and buildings

1. Power systems or protection engineer — LinkedIn general search
("power systems engineer" OR "protection engineer" OR "electrical engineer") AND (etap OR skm OR "pss/e" OR aspen) AND ("relay settings" OR "short circuit" OR "arc flash") NOT (electrician OR lineman OR lineworker)

2. Substation design engineer — LinkedIn Recruiter, Job titles + Keywords filters
("substation engineer" OR "electrical engineer" OR "distribution engineer") AND substation AND ("one-line" OR "three-line" OR "physical design") AND (autocad OR microstation)

3. Building electrical engineer — LinkedIn general search
("electrical engineer" OR "mep engineer") AND revit AND ("national electrical code" OR nec) AND (lighting OR "power distribution") NOT (electrician OR apprentice OR journeyman)

4. Licensed power engineer — LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords filter
("electrical engineer" OR "power systems engineer") AND ("professional engineer" OR "pe license" OR "licensed pe") AND (power OR substation OR "arc flash")

Controls, hardware and RF

5. Controls or automation engineer — Indeed Smart Sourcing
("controls engineer" OR "automation engineer" OR "electrical engineer") AND skill: (plc OR "allen-bradley" OR "studio 5000" OR "tia portal") AND (hmi OR scada)

6. Hardware or board design engineer — Dice resume search
("hardware engineer" OR "electrical engineer" OR "board design engineer") AND (altium OR orcad OR allegro) AND ("schematic capture" OR "pcb layout" OR "signal integrity")

7. Hardware engineer who brings up boards — Dice resume search
("electrical engineer" OR "hardware engineer") AND ("board bring-up" OR "bring up") AND (oscilloscope OR "logic analyzer") AND (firmware OR "embedded c")

8. RF engineer, design side — LinkedIn general search
("rf engineer" OR "microwave engineer" OR "rf design engineer") AND (hfss OR "keysight ads" OR "network analyzer") NOT ("drive test" OR "rf technician")

Search-engine X-ray

9. Public profiles by specialty and metro — Google X-ray
site:linkedin.com/in ("protection engineer" OR "power systems engineer") "etap" "houston" -jobs -recruiter

10. Public resumes with board design tools — Google X-ray, filetype search
filetype:pdf "electrical engineer" resume ("altium" OR "orcad") "pcb" -template -sample

What LinkedIn, Indeed, Dice and Google actually support

As of October 2026, LinkedIn's Boolean help page requires AND, OR and NOT in capitals, supports quotes and parentheses, and does not support wildcards. Electrical vocabulary is full of abbreviations, so pair the short form with the long one: "nec" with "national electrical code," "plc" with "programmable logic controller" if results look thin. Put terms with slashes or hyphens, such as "pss/e" and "one-line," in quotes. LinkedIn Recruiter's Boolean page warns that very long queries can cause result problems, so keep titles in the Job titles filter.

Indeed's Boolean guide for maintenance and installation hiring documents a skill: field for the skills section of a resume, which suits controls engineers, who often come from plant environments. Dice's Boolean guide supports the same operators and fills in word endings automatically. Google's search operators page documents quotes, site:, the minus sign and filetype:, but not OR; check once whether an X-ray's OR block changes anything.

Narrowing by voltage, industry and ownership

Voltage level is a quick way to separate electrical work. Utility and transmission engineers write "kV," "transmission," "substation" and "interconnection"; building engineers write "480V," "panelboards" and "lighting controls"; hardware engineers write "low power," "mixed signal" and "DC-DC." If the client's work is at one level, add a block of that vocabulary.

Ownership words still help with seniority: "designed," "stamped," "led the study," "owned the board" and "released to production" tend to come from people who made the calls, while "assisted," "drafted" and "updated drawings" tend to come from designers and juniors. LinkedIn's premium search filters add Years of Experience in Recruiter and Sales Navigator.

False positives worth excluding with NOT

• Electricians and apprentices. "Electrician," "journeyman," "apprentice" and "master electrician" profiles mention the NEC, panels and power distribution. Exclude them for engineering roles.
• Lineworkers. "Lineman," "lineworker" and "groundman" profiles mention substations and distribution. See the electrical lineworker screening questions if the client needs field crews instead.
• Electrical technicians and field service. "Electrical technician," "test technician" and "field service technician" profiles list oscilloscopes, relays and PLCs. Keep them only if the client will consider a technician with a degree in progress.
• Electrical designers, when the role needs an engineer. Designers and drafters use Revit and AutoCAD every day. Keep them for detailing roles; exclude them when the client needs engineering judgment or a license path.
• Sales engineers. Equipment manufacturers' "sales engineers" and "application engineers" list ETAP studies and relay brands. Exclude "sales" when the role is design.

A worked example: three passes on a protection engineer search

An invented search, shown as it actually gets narrowed.

The specialty title and a study tool did more than the generic title ever could. In electrical searches, the software is often the most honest signal of the work.

What a search cannot verify

A string can find someone whose profile names the right tools and specialty. It cannot tell you whether they ran the study or reviewed someone else's, whether a PE license is active in the client's state, or how they handle a design that fails in the field. The electrical engineer phone screen questions test that ownership, and Boolean search strings for recruiters covers how to repair a string that returns nothing or far too much. For neighboring disciplines, see the guides for mechanical engineers and civil engineers.