Cover letter examples for tech, product and finance roles

Not every recruiter reads cover letters. But when they do — often when deciding between a few close candidates — a good one can tip the decision. A generic one can do the opposite.

The good news: a strong cover letter is short. Most should be 200–300 words, about three or four paragraphs. Below is a structure that works for almost any role, followed by examples for tech, product and finance.

The structure

1. Opening (2–3 sentences). The role you're applying for and the single strongest reason you fit.
2. Evidence (1–2 short paragraphs). One or two achievements that match what the job needs, with numbers where you can.
3. Why them (2–3 sentences). Something specific about the company and how it connects to you. If you've prepared your answer to why you want to work there, reuse it here.
4. Close (1–2 sentences). A confident, polite sign-off.

Skip "To Whom It May Concern". Use the hiring manager's name if you can find it, or "Dear [Company] team".

Example: software engineer

Dear Lumen Pay team,

I'm applying for the Backend Engineer role. I've spent three years building payment systems in Node.js and PostgreSQL, and reliability at scale is the problem I enjoy most.

At my current company I redesigned our transaction processing to be idempotent, which ended a recurring double-charge issue and cut payment-related support tickets by 60%. I also led our move from cron scripts to a queue-based worker system, which made failed jobs retryable and visible for the first time.

Your engineering blog post on handling bank downtime caught my attention — it's exactly the kind of messy, real-world problem I want to work on. I'd love to help your team keep payments boringly reliable as you grow.

Thank you for your time. I'd be glad to talk through how I can contribute.

Best regards, Chidi Okafor

Why it works: specific technologies that match the job, two concrete achievements with impact, and a "why them" that shows real research.

Example: product manager

Dear Harmattan Labs team,

I'm excited to apply for the Product Manager, Savings role. For the past four years I've managed consumer fintech products, most recently a savings feature used by 200,000 people.

When I joined, only 12% of new users made a second deposit. By interviewing users who dropped off and testing simpler goal-setting flows, we raised that to 31% in two quarters. I work closely with design and engineering and I'm comfortable owning a roadmap from research to launch.

Your focus on helping first-time savers build a habit — rather than just offering higher interest — is the approach I believe in. I'd love to bring my experience with savings behaviour to your team.

Kind regards, Amara Nwosu

Example: financial analyst

Dear Cowry Cloud finance team,

I'm applying for the Financial Analyst position. I'm a chartered accountant with three years' experience in FP&A, budgeting and management reporting for fast-growing companies.

In my current role I built a monthly forecasting model that reduced our variance against actual results from 18% to 6%, and I automated our board reporting pack, cutting preparation time from four days to one.

As a company serving small businesses, your growth depends on tight cost control and clear unit economics — the areas where I've had the most impact. I'd welcome the chance to discuss how I can support your finance team.

Yours sincerely, Tunde Bakare

Mistakes that get cover letters skipped

• Repeating your CV. The letter should add context and a reason, not list your jobs again.
• Being generic. If you could send the same letter to ten companies, it isn't doing its job.
• Too long. More than one page is too long. Most strong letters fit in 250 words.
• Focusing on what you want. Lead with what you'll bring, not what you hope to gain.
• Wrong company name. If you adapt a previous letter, check every name and detail.
• Ignoring instructions. If the post asks for a cover letter in the email body rather than as an attachment, do that.

Tailor it, every time

A cover letter only works if it's written for the specific job — the same principle as your CV. If you haven't already, read how to tailor your CV for a job; the keywords you pull from the job description work for your cover letter too.

Let Litjob write the first draft

When Litjob tailors your application for a role, it writes a cover letter from your profile and that job's description, and a second AI agent reviews it before you send. You edit it however you like, and you're always the one who sends it. See how the AI cover letter generator works.