diff --git a/src/optimagic/benchmarking/benchmark_problem.py b/src/optimagic/benchmarking/benchmark_problem.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bf322296e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/optimagic/benchmarking/benchmark_problem.py
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+
+import numpy as np
+from numpy.typing import NDArray
+
+
+class BenchmarkProblem(ABC):
+    @abstractmethod
+    def fun(self, x: NDArray[np.float64]) -> float | NDArray[np.float64]:
+        pass
+
+    @property
+    @abstractmethod
+    def start_x(self) -> NDArray[np.float64]:
+        pass
+
+    @property
+    @abstractmethod
+    def solution_x(self) -> NDArray[np.float64] | None:
+        pass
+
+    @property
+    @abstractmethod
+    def start_fun(self) -> float:
+        pass
+
+    @property
+    @abstractmethod
+    def solution_fun(self) -> float:
+        pass