diff --git a/packages/core/prisma/migrations/20260517110000_add_profile_skill_and_skill_category/migration.sql b/packages/core/prisma/migrations/20260517110000_add_profile_skill_and_skill_category/migration.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3ac9f59
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/prisma/migrations/20260517110000_add_profile_skill_and_skill_category/migration.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+-- AlterTable
+ALTER TABLE "skills" ADD COLUMN     "categoryId" TEXT;
+
+-- CreateTable
+CREATE TABLE "skill_categories" (
+    "id" TEXT NOT NULL,
+    "name" TEXT NOT NULL,
+    "description" TEXT,
+    "createdAt" TIMESTAMP(3) NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+    "updatedAt" TIMESTAMP(3) NOT NULL,
+
+    CONSTRAINT "skill_categories_pkey" PRIMARY KEY ("id")
+);
+
+-- CreateTable
+CREATE TABLE "profile_skills" (
+    "id" TEXT NOT NULL,
+    "profileId" TEXT NOT NULL,
+    "skillId" TEXT NOT NULL,
+    "createdAt" TIMESTAMP(3) NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+    "updatedAt" TIMESTAMP(3) NOT NULL,
+
+    CONSTRAINT "profile_skills_pkey" PRIMARY KEY ("id")
+);
+
+-- CreateIndex
+CREATE UNIQUE INDEX "skill_categories_name_key" ON "skill_categories"("name");
+
+-- CreateIndex
+CREATE INDEX "profile_skills_profileId_idx" ON "profile_skills"("profileId");
+
+-- CreateIndex
+CREATE UNIQUE INDEX "profile_skills_profileId_skillId_key" ON "profile_skills"("profileId", "skillId");
+
+-- AddForeignKey
+ALTER TABLE "skills" ADD CONSTRAINT "skills_categoryId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("categoryId") REFERENCES "skill_categories"("id") ON DELETE SET NULL ON UPDATE CASCADE;
+
+-- AddForeignKey
+ALTER TABLE "profile_skills" ADD CONSTRAINT "profile_skills_profileId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("profileId") REFERENCES "profiles"("id") ON DELETE CASCADE ON UPDATE CASCADE;
+
+-- AddForeignKey
+ALTER TABLE "profile_skills" ADD CONSTRAINT "profile_skills_skillId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("skillId") REFERENCES "skills"("id") ON DELETE RESTRICT ON UPDATE CASCADE;
+
+
+-- Data backfill: derive ProfileSkill rows from existing skill references on
+-- job experiences and education entries. Union the two relations and dedupe.
+-- The @@unique([profileId, skillId]) constraint catches anything UNION misses.
+INSERT INTO "profile_skills" ("id", "profileId", "skillId", "createdAt", "updatedAt")
+SELECT gen_random_uuid()::text, derived."profileId", derived."skillId", NOW(), NOW()
+FROM (
+    SELECT uje."profileId", st."A" AS "skillId"
+    FROM "_SkillToUserJobExperience" st
+    JOIN "user_job_experiences" uje ON uje."id" = st."B"
+    UNION
+    SELECT e."profileId", ets."B" AS "skillId"
+    FROM "_EducationToSkill" ets
+    JOIN "educations" e ON e."id" = ets."A"
+) AS derived
+ON CONFLICT ("profileId", "skillId") DO NOTHING;
diff --git a/packages/core/prisma/models/job-experience.prisma b/packages/core/prisma/models/job-experience.prisma
index 89f9326..2106fb5 100644
--- a/packages/core/prisma/models/job-experience.prisma
+++ b/packages/core/prisma/models/job-experience.prisma
@@ -1,10 +1,28 @@
+/// Broad skill category (Technical, Business, Creative, …). Seeded as
+/// reference data so adding a new category is a row insert, not a
+/// migration. Nullable on Skill — uncategorized is fine.
+model SkillCategory {
+  id          String   @id @default(cuid())
+  name        String   @unique
+  description String?
+  createdAt   DateTime @default(now())
+  updatedAt   DateTime @updatedAt
+
+  skills Skill[]
+
+  @@map("skill_categories")
+}
+
 model Skill {
   id          String   @id @default(cuid())
   name        String   @unique
   description String?
+  categoryId  String?
   createdAt   DateTime @default(now())
   updatedAt   DateTime @updatedAt
 
+  category SkillCategory? @relation(fields: [categoryId], references: [id], onDelete: SetNull)
+
   // Job experiences that use this skill
   jobExperiences UserJobExperience[]
 
@@ -14,6 +32,10 @@ model Skill {
   // Education entries that use this skill
   educations Education[]
 
+  // Per-user "I have this skill" claims. Catalog row stays shared; the
+  // claim itself lives on ProfileSkill.
+  profileSkills ProfileSkill[]
+
   @@map("skills")
 }
 
diff --git a/packages/core/prisma/models/profile-skill.prisma b/packages/core/prisma/models/profile-skill.prisma
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d267799
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/core/prisma/models/profile-skill.prisma
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+/// Per-user "I have this skill" claim. The `Skill` row stays a shared
+/// catalog (unique-on-name, used as a controlled vocabulary across users
+/// + vacancies); ProfileSkill is the user-owned link with claim-time
+/// metadata.
+model ProfileSkill {
+  id        String   @id @default(cuid())
+  profileId String
+  skillId   String
+  createdAt DateTime @default(now())
+  updatedAt DateTime @updatedAt
+
+  profile Profile @relation(fields: [profileId], references: [id], onDelete: Cascade)
+  skill   Skill   @relation(fields: [skillId], references: [id], onDelete: Restrict)
+
+  @@unique([profileId, skillId])
+  @@index([profileId])
+  @@map("profile_skills")
+}
diff --git a/packages/core/prisma/models/profile.prisma b/packages/core/prisma/models/profile.prisma
index cdb4cf0..74b2c58 100644
--- a/packages/core/prisma/models/profile.prisma
+++ b/packages/core/prisma/models/profile.prisma
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ model Profile {
   location        Location?           @relation(fields: [locationId], references: [id], onDelete: SetNull)
   educations      Education[]
   jobExperiences  UserJobExperience[]
+  skills          ProfileSkill[]
   cvs             CV[]
   applications    Application[]
   userFiles       UserFile[]