“Hello Hiring Manager” is informal for a cover letter — use it only in industries where casual tone is normal (some startups, creative agencies). “Dear” remains safer for corporate and regulated roles.
Example openings
Hello Hiring Manager,
I built the checkout flow at [Startup] and would love to bring that
experience to your Product Engineer role.Hello,
I'm applying for the Content Strategist role — your blog's voice is
exactly the kind of work I want to do next.What to write instead
- “Dear [Name],” in most professional contexts
- “Hello [Name],” after the recruiter already used first-name tone in email
- Avoid “Hey” or “Hi there” in cover letters unless the company culture clearly invites it
Need the actual name instead of a generic salutation? Paste the job URL into DearHiringManager.io — find the hiring manager's name in about a minute, then open with “Dear [Name],” instead.