Step 1 of 6·8 min read
Nail Your Headline
Your headline is 220 characters of first impression. Make every one count.
Why this matters
Your headline is the most-read line on your profile
Every connection request, comment, search result, and message preview shows your headline next to your name. By the time someone sees your About section, they have already decided to engage based on your headline.
And yet, most people use the LinkedIn default, their job title at their company. Three words of dead weight.
The good news: a great headline takes 15 minutes to write and pays you back every day someone sees it.
Key principle
Lead with what you do, not what you are
"Senior Engineer at Acme" tells me your title. "Senior Engineer | Payments infrastructure | I make banks faster" tells me what you actually work on, why I should care, and why I should remember you.
The 220-character rule
LinkedIn allows 220 characters in your headline. Use 150–220. Going under 100 wastes a free billboard. Going over the limit gets truncated mid-word on mobile.
5 headline formulas that actually work
The Pipe Stack
[Role] | [Speciality] | [Who you help / industry]
Example
Product Designer | B2B SaaS | Helping fintech startups ship faster
The Mission Statement
[Role] @ [Company] | [What the company does in one line]
Example
Head of Growth @ Linear | We build the project tracking tool teams actually want to use
The Result-First
[Role] | [Specific result you deliver] | [Audience]
Example
Freelance Copywriter | I write the email sequences that convert your free trials | SaaS startups
The Two-Side
[Job title] by day | [Side project / second life]
Example
Engineering Manager @ Stripe | Writing about engineering management at engmanager.dev
The Origin Story
[Current role] | Ex-[notable company / experience]
Example
Founding PM @ Cursor | Ex-Stripe, ex-Figma | Building dev tools
30 real LinkedIn headlines, by role
These are formats that consistently get profile clicks. Adapt the structure to your situation, don't copy verbatim.
Founders
Founder @ Linear | We make the project tracker engineers actually want to use
CEO of Notion | Building the all-in-one workspace
Co-founder @ Cursor | The IDE built around AI
Freelancers
Freelance React Developer | Shipping landing pages and SaaS dashboards | 50+ clients
Brand Designer for fintech startups | I rebrand companies in 4 weeks
Fractional CMO | Helping seed-stage SaaS hit $1M ARR | Booked 6 months out
Sales
Account Executive @ Hubspot | I sell to mid-market RevOps leaders
VP of Sales @ Datadog | Scaled the EMEA team from 3 to 38
SDR Manager | Coaching reps to book meetings with decision makers, not gatekeepers
Marketers
Head of Content @ Webflow | Building the content engine that ranks for everything
Growth Marketing Lead | Took Notion from 5M to 15M signups
B2B Marketing Director | Turning paid ads into pipeline for SaaS Series B+
Designers
Senior Product Designer @ Figma | Working on FigJam
Brand Designer | I rebrand B2B SaaS companies | Open to new clients
UX Researcher @ Stripe | Making payments feel less terrifying for small businesses
Developers
Staff Engineer @ Vercel | Working on the Next.js core
iOS Engineer | Built the camera at Notion | Open to work
Full-Stack Dev | TypeScript, Postgres, k8s | I take prototypes to production
Recruiters
Tech Recruiter @ Anthropic | Hiring senior research engineers in SF and London
Head of Talent @ Figma | We're hiring designers, PMs, and engineers across all teams
Freelance Tech Recruiter | I place senior backend engineers at Series B+ startups
Job seekers
Senior PM open to new roles | Ex-Stripe, ex-Plaid | Fintech, infra, dev tools
Looking for my next move | 8 yrs design leadership | Series A-B fintech preferred
Open to staff engineer roles | Distributed systems | Ex-Datadog, ex-Mongo
Students
CS @ Stanford | Interning at Anthropic this summer | Researching agentic coding
MBA @ Wharton, class of '26 | Ex-McKinsey | Looking for product roles
Design student @ RISD | Visual identity & motion | Open to summer internships
Consultants
Independent consultant | Helping early-stage SaaS founders find product-market fit
Ex-McKinsey, now consulting solo | Strategy for B2B Series A startups
Engineering management coach | I help managers stop doing IC work and lead
Before you save your headline
0 / 6Quick check that what you wrote actually pulls its weight.