The ability to measure viscous wall shear stress in high-speed flows is important for verifying simulated results typically obtained from direct numerical simulation in the aerodynamics research community, and robust sensors are required to measure wall shear reliably under such high-speed conditions. This letter summarizes the design, fabrication, and testing of a surface micromachined piezoelectric shear-stress sensor which uses a thin piezoelectric film to generate a voltage proportional to an applied shear stress without additional moving parts. A differential-cell architecture is used to enhance selectivity to shear stress while canceling normal-stress sensitivity. The conceptual design, fabrication details, and experimental measurements of device sensitivity are presented. A finite element model is used to validate the device performance against measurements, and to provide insight into the potential and electric fields underlying the device concept. The potential for understanding device behavior and optimization through modeling is illustrated using finite element analysis results. The minimum detectable shear stress for the sensor is estimated to be 52.9 mPa  √Hz−1 at 1.5 kHz.