AutoFilterManager does not allow you to specify a filter criteria in code like we can do that, say, in the WHERE clause of a SELECT SQL statement.
However, if you have a limited number of filters you are going to apply (a predefined set), I can suggest a workaround. You can prepare those filters interactively and save every filter for later use with the SaveFilterToFile method of AutoFilterManager (to save the whole grid filter) or using the FilterAsBase64String property of the ColAutoFilter object property (to save the filter for an individual column). To restore the saved filter, use the RestoreFilterFromFile method or assign the saved filter string to the ColAutoFilter.FilterAsBase64String property respectively.