It’s not very common for engineering jobs to require a cover letter. Most listings leave it as optional, which makes you wonder, do recruiters even care about it?
While there isn’t a lot of data specific to engineering roles, general hiring studies suggest that 79% of employers say they read cover letters even when they don’t ask for one.
That got me curious as to what exactly do recruiters expect in an engineering cover letter.
So, I reviewed some interviews and opinions of hiring managers to understand it better, and in this article, I’ll share everything I found.
Let’s get started.
Key Takeaways
- A cover letter gives your application a human voice. Make sure to write one when applying to engineering roles to explain your career moves and show a genuine interest in the role.
- The structure of an engineering cover letter is very simple. It includes a header with your personal details, a brief opening with one solid value claim, evidence-based body paragraphs, and a closing.
- You could add a realistic problem-to-solution pitch to make your cover letter engaging. Always support your skills with concrete examples that mention real technologies, methods, and metrics to prove competence.
Why Engineers Need a Cover Letter
A cover letter is the one place where you can actually talk to the person on the other side of the screen.
Because once you’re in the interview pile, everyone is already qualified. The point of decision now is whether you’re someone they’d actually want to work with every day.
That’s exactly what a cover letter helps you show, it gives your application a voice and a bit of personality.
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A person who is thoughtful, self-aware, and is genuinely interested in the role obviously stands a better chance.
In cases where, let’s say, you’ve spent most of your career in software development and now want to move into software testing, your resume alone will make the recruiter assume you misunderstood the job description.
You can only explain your intent behind the switch of job roles through a cover letter.
A good cover letter is also a great add-on when your qualifications aren’t an exact match.
When several candidates have similar resumes, the one who writes a thoughtful, human letter instantly stands out.
It’s not even difficult to write a cover letter anymore. Undetectable AI’s free Cover Letter Generator is great at producing custom, high-quality cover letters.
All you do is head to the tool and input your information or import your LinkedIn profile. That’s it.
You can either manually fill in your details and job-specific info, or simply let the tool pull everything straight from your LinkedIn.
Once the details are filled in, your cover letter will be ready!
Structure of an Engineering Cover Letter
You will find a dozen different templates of an engineering cover letter online, and to be honest, any of them would do the job.
Just make sure your letter includes the following key components:
- A header where you mention your name, phone, email, LinkedIn/portfolio URL, and your city address
- Exact date of the day you send your cover letter to a potential employer
- The address of the company you’re applying to, if you can find it
- Beginning of body text with salutation, named if possible (e.g., “Dear Ms. Doe”), otherwise “Dear Hiring Manager,” followed by an opening paragraph of 1–2 sentences. The opening should mention the role and one clear value claim.
- A few body paragraphs, where you talk about specific, quantified achievements tied to job requirements and why you believe you are a good fit for the company culture.
- Preferably, a problem-to-solution pitch that shows you’ve researched the company and propose a concrete first 90-day contribution.
- A closing paragraph to restate your fit for the position with a call to action
- Finally, your signature at the end, with full name, phone, and LinkedIn portfolio again
Perhaps the two most important aspects of the structure of an engineering cover letter are clarity and brevity.
Whatever template you follow, make sure to run your text through Undetectable AI’s Grammar Checker to polish the language and use Word Counter to keep it concise.
Also, keep in mind that a well-structured cover letter is most effective when it is backed by a document that clearly maps out your career trajectory.
You can use Undetectable AI’s Resume Generator to create a high-impact engineering resume that highlights your technical skills and project experience, ensuring your entire application package remains professional and cohesive.
What to Include in an Engineering Cover Letter
You can’t really do a lot with the structure of a cover letter until you know what exactly to talk about in it.
Here’s what I believe you must consider when writing one.
The Purpose
If there’s one thing your cover letter must never miss, it’s the purpose, i.e., the exact reason why you think you belong to the role in question.
Lead with a one-line value claim and then follow with a concrete example that proves your claim. Ideally, you should:
- Establish the context about what you do
- Mention your capability, i.e., the tools and methods you used to do it
- The outcome it brought in terms of numbers or reliability gain
It should clearly state that you must join this company not because you “love the mission,” but because you see a clear, repeatable contribution you can make in their field site.
Your Most Relevant Technical and Soft Skills
For your engineering cover letter, you’ll pick three to four technical and soft skills that match the job and present each as evidence.
Take a look at this example:
- The skills I possess include C++, AWS, and leadership.
- I redesigned a C++ data pipeline to stream line-delimited messages through a bespoke backpressure system on AWS. It led to a decrease in memory footprint by 60%.
Which of these two exudes more confidence in skills?
Of course, the second one.
The point of this example is, when talking about skills, make sure to mention exact technologies and methodologies (e.g., RTOS version, finite element package, IPC protocol, control loop frequency), then attach a metric to convey that you know what you’re talking about.
A specific value statement
Now, this is a tip you will probably not find in a generic engineering cover letter template.
For the company you’re applying to, hunt for an observed problem as the company would experience it based on their socials.
Then propose the pragmatic first steps you’d take as a potential solution to that problem.
If you can anticipate it, also mention some measurable outcome you expect out of your proposed solution.
Be very realistic here. Tie the solution to techniques you’ve used before and to the minimal viable evidence you’d collect first, and always offer to expand the pitch into a step-by-step plan after the interview.
This practice will add an unconventional aspect to your engineering cover letter. It will also give you and the recruiters a point to talk about in the interview.
Engineering Cover Letter Example
Based on our discussion so far, here’s a sample engineering cover letter example that puts together everything in one clean format.
Daniel Carter
Birmingham, UK
+44 7XXX XXX XXX | daniel.carter@email.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/danielcarter | Portfolio: github.com/dcarterdesign
6 October 2025
Dear Hiring Manager,
I’m applying for the Mechanical Design Engineer position at XYZ Robotics. I specialize in precision mechatronic assemblies and thermal-efficient designs for compact robotic systems. At my current role at XX Ltd., I redesigned a three-axis actuator housing, i.e., the metal casing that holds and protects a robot’s moving parts, which reduced assembly time by 27%. I’m keen to bring the same approach, i.e., blend innovative design principles with lean production, to XYZ Robotics’ product development team.
I have had the chance to lead the full design of a high-torque servo module from start to finish. I used design software to test different shapes and materials until we found a stronger version that passed all vibration and durability checks. The new version weighed 22% less and saved about $180 per unit in production costs. I also worked closely with the electronics team to make sure the motors and sensors worked safely.
What draws me most to XYZ Robotics is your focus on making safer and energy-efficient cobots. I read about your work on adaptive torque sensing and how it helps prevent wear during long operating hours. If I join your team, my first step would be to study temperature build-up in the actuators and then test a simple heat-spreading insert to reduce it. I used this approach before and achieved a 10°C drop in operating temperature.
My resume and portfolio are attached, and I’d be happy to discuss how my background in product design and manufacturing can support XYZ’s 2026 product goals.
Sincerely,
Daniel Carter
Tips for Writing a Strong Engineering Cover Letter
By now, you must be confident enough to write your own engineering cover letter.
I just wanted to drop in the last few tips before you start writing.
Most cover letters are first screened by HR before reaching an engineering manager.
So, it goes without saying that you must write your engineering cover letter keeping both audiences in mind, concrete enough to show that you know what you do, and verbally easy enough for HR recruiters to understand it so they can send it forward.
Always lead with outcomes.
Make sure whatever you talk about, frame it around measurable outcomes:, for example, saved hours, reduced costs, improved performance, increased efficiency, etc.
Also, try to weave in the exact words or phrases the employer has used in the job description.
It helps when ATS (applicant tracking system) filters applications based on how relevant they are for the role.
When you’re done writing, spend a minute to make your layout easy to scan.
Short paragraphs with selectively bolded words are easier on the eyes and get read faster.
Finally, always, always proofread your cover letter. Run your draft through a grammar and tone checker like Undetectable AI Grammar Checker to fix complex phrasing.
Read it aloud and trim anything that sounds too technical.
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Conclusion
If you’re planning to apply for an engineering role, the bottom line is that it’s always better to send a cover letter than to skip it.
It will never hurt your chances. If anything, it’ll only tilt the odds in your favor.
That said, I get that writing a fresh cover letter for every single application isn’t always realistic. Undetectable AI’s free Cover Letter Generator can make your life really easy.
The tool creates tailored, high-quality drafts based on your information that you can easily edit. Most of the time, you won’t even need to refine it manually. The Humanizer feature will do it for you.
Sign up at Undetectable AI today.