diff --git a/taxonomy/api/__init__.py b/taxonomy/api/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/taxonomy/api/v1/__init__.py b/taxonomy/api/v1/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/taxonomy/api/v1/serializers.py b/taxonomy/api/v1/serializers.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6df21562
--- /dev/null
+++ b/taxonomy/api/v1/serializers.py
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+from rest_framework import serializers
+from taxonomy.models import Skill
+
+
+class SkillSerializer(serializers.ModelSerializer):
+    """ Skill Searlizer """
+
+    class Meta:
+        model = Skill
+        fields = ('name', 'description')
diff --git a/taxonomy/api/v1/urls.py b/taxonomy/api/v1/urls.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e219e098
--- /dev/null
+++ b/taxonomy/api/v1/urls.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+from django.urls import path
+from taxonomy.api.v1.views import SkillsView
+
+urlpatterns = [
+    path('api/v1/skills/', SkillsView.as_view(), name='skill_list')
+]
diff --git a/taxonomy/api/v1/views.py b/taxonomy/api/v1/views.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e48e7578
--- /dev/null
+++ b/taxonomy/api/v1/views.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+from rest_framework.generics import ListAPIView
+from rest_framework.permissions import IsAuthenticated
+from taxonomy.models import Skill
+from taxonomy.api.v1.serializers import SkillSerializer
+
+
+class SkillsView(ListAPIView):
+    """ List view for Skills """
+    permission_classes = [IsAuthenticated]
+    serializer_class = SkillSerializer
+
+    def get_queryset(self):
+        search = self.request.query_params.get('search')
+
+        queryset = Skill.objects.exclude(courseskills__is_blacklisted=True)
+        if search:
+            queryset = queryset.filter(name__icontains=search)
+
+        return queryset
diff --git a/taxonomy/migrations/0010_auto_20210305_0914.py b/taxonomy/migrations/0010_auto_20210305_0914.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..f5359aea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/taxonomy/migrations/0010_auto_20210305_0914.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Generated by Django 2.2.17 on 2021-03-05 09:14
+
+from django.db import migrations, models
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('taxonomy', '0009_skill_description'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.AlterField(
+            model_name='skill',
+            name='name',
+            field=models.CharField(blank=True, db_index=True, help_text='The name of the skill.', max_length=255),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/taxonomy/models.py b/taxonomy/models.py
index 72d42e01..4bbbd824 100644
--- a/taxonomy/models.py
+++ b/taxonomy/models.py
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ class Skill(TimeStampedModel):
     name = models.CharField(
         max_length=255,
         blank=True,
+        db_index=True,
         help_text=_(
             'The name of the skill.'
         )
diff --git a/taxonomy/urls.py b/taxonomy/urls.py
index a9a39e96..06d13f6a 100644
--- a/taxonomy/urls.py
+++ b/taxonomy/urls.py
@@ -3,12 +3,16 @@
 Taxonomy Connector URL Configuration.
 """
 
-from django.urls import re_path
+from django.urls import re_path, include
 
 from taxonomy import views
+from taxonomy.api.v1.urls import urlpatterns as api_v1_urlpatterns
+
 
 urlpatterns = [
     re_path(
         r"^admin/taxonomy/refresh_course_skills/$", views.RefreshCourseSkills.as_view(), name="refresh_course_skills"
     ),
 ]
+
+urlpatterns += api_v1_urlpatterns
diff --git a/test_settings.py b/test_settings.py
index ee3c8e20..1ea564df 100644
--- a/test_settings.py
+++ b/test_settings.py
@@ -35,6 +35,18 @@ def root(*args):
     'django.contrib.sessions',
     'django.contrib.messages',
     'taxonomy',
+    'rest_framework'
+)
+
+MIDDLEWARE = (
+    'django.contrib.sessions.middleware.SessionMiddleware',
+    'django.middleware.locale.LocaleMiddleware',
+    'django.middleware.common.CommonMiddleware',
+    'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware',
+    'django.contrib.auth.middleware.AuthenticationMiddleware',
+    'django.contrib.messages.middleware.MessageMiddleware',
+    'django.contrib.sites.middleware.CurrentSiteMiddleware',
+    'django.middleware.clickjacking.XFrameOptionsMiddleware',
 )
 
 LOCALE_PATHS = [
@@ -69,3 +81,9 @@ def root(*args):
 CELERY_BROKER_URL = 'memory://localhost/'
 
 ### END CELERY
+
+REST_FRAMEWORK = {
+    'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': (
+        'rest_framework.authentication.SessionAuthentication',
+    ),
+}
diff --git a/test_utils/factories.py b/test_utils/factories.py
index 9c75e7f9..e7a83e3c 100644
--- a/test_utils/factories.py
+++ b/test_utils/factories.py
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 import factory
 from faker import Factory as FakerFactory
 
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+
 from taxonomy.models import CourseSkills, Job, JobPostings, JobSkills, Skill
 
 FAKER = FakerFactory.create()
@@ -94,3 +96,20 @@ class Meta:
     median_posting_duration = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda x: FAKER.pyint(min_value=0, max_value=100000000))
     unique_postings = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda x: FAKER.pyint(min_value=0, max_value=100000000))
     unique_companies = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda x: FAKER.pyint(min_value=0, max_value=100000000))
+
+
+class UserFactory(factory.django.DjangoModelFactory):
+    """
+    Factory for User model.
+    """
+
+    class Meta:
+        model = User
+
+    email = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda x: FAKER.email())
+    username = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda x: FAKER.user_name())
+    first_name = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda x: FAKER.first_name())
+    last_name = factory.LazyAttribute(lambda x: FAKER.last_name())
+    is_superuser = False
+    is_staff = False
+    is_active = True
diff --git a/tests/test_api_v1.py b/tests/test_api_v1.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5ec94dd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_api_v1.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+from pytest import mark
+from django.urls import reverse
+
+from rest_framework.test import APITestCase
+from rest_framework import status
+from test_utils import factories
+
+
+TEST_USERNAME = 'taxonomy_user'
+TEST_EMAIL = 'taxonomy_user@example.com'
+TEST_PASSWORD = 'password'
+
+
+@mark.django_db
+class TestSkillsView(APITestCase):
+    def setUp(self):
+        """
+        Perform operations common to all tests.
+        """
+        super().setUp()
+        self.user = self.create_user(username=TEST_USERNAME, email=TEST_EMAIL, password=TEST_PASSWORD)
+
+        self.url = reverse('skill_list')
+
+        self.whitelisted_skills = [
+            'C Plus Plus', 'Command Line Interface', 'Data Structures', 'Biochemistry',
+            'Animations', 'Algorithms', 'Data Science', 'Data Wrangling', 'Databases'
+        ]
+        self.blacklisted_skills = ['Visual Basic', 'Oracle']
+
+        for skill_name in self.whitelisted_skills:
+            skill = factories.SkillFactory(name=skill_name)
+            factories.CourseSkillsFactory(skill=skill)
+
+        for skill_name in self.blacklisted_skills:
+            skill = factories.SkillFactory(name=skill_name)
+            factories.CourseSkillsFactory(skill=skill, is_blacklisted=True)
+
+        self.client.login(username=TEST_USERNAME, password=TEST_PASSWORD)
+
+    def create_user(self, username=TEST_USERNAME, password=TEST_PASSWORD, **kwargs):
+        """
+        Create a test user and set its password.
+        """
+        user = factories.UserFactory(username=username, **kwargs)
+        user.set_password(password)  # pylint: disable=no-member
+        user.save()  # pylint: disable=no-member
+        return user
+
+    def test_search(self):
+        """
+        Verify that skills endppoint return all skills when `search` query param is not given
+        """
+        response = self.client.get(path=self.url)
+        assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_200_OK
+        skill_names = [skill['name'] for skill in response.json()]
+        assert sorted(skill_names) == sorted(self.whitelisted_skills)
+
+    def test_search_with_query_param(self):
+        """
+        Verify that skills endppoint return filtered skills according to the `search` query param
+        """
+        response = self.client.get(path=self.url + '?search=data')
+        assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_200_OK
+        skill_names = [skill['name'] for skill in response.json()]
+        assert skill_names == ['Data Structures', 'Data Science', 'Data Wrangling', 'Databases' ]
+
+    def test_search_with_blacklisted_skill(self):
+        """
+        Verify that skills endppoint does not return blacklised skills.
+        """
+        response = self.client.get(path=self.url + '?search=Oracle')
+        assert response.status_code == status.HTTP_200_OK
+        skill_names = [skill['name'] for skill in response.json()]
+        assert skill_names == []