Difference in the type of work they do and compensation? I'm currently doing UX but a recruiter is sending me Interaction design positions.
Fascinating how one company can establish new titles or repurpose titles and it becomes defacto standard, but then there are companies who take those titles, particularly shorthanded startups, and alter or broaden their definition.
First of all it’s Google, so like any company that size, you hire more specialist than generalist. They don’t need everyone to have breadth of skills, but more with people are truly expert and have the know-how to fill one particular role, in this case IxD. As for difference between IxD and UXD, as IxD you are defining the interaction model of the product experience, pushing boundaries on ‘how’ users interact with the products in a meaningful way. Whereas as an UXD, you will focus more on solving the ‘why’ and designing an experience that adds value and truly help people understand why they need this product. For compensation purposes, if you are junior/mid-level (2-5 years), it probably isn’t much of a difference. As you get to more senior and even have aspirations to be a design leader at Google or any other companies, UXD tend to have more options and future opportunities that will have impact not just TC but your career path at not just Google but other companies.
People may call themselves a UX Designer but that's not a role on paper at Google design. The tree ladders are interaction design, visual design, and motion design. If this is an entry level role, you can pretty much treat IxD the same as UxD here
Org wide?
Yes
I interviewed for an "interaction designer" position at Google and ultimately what they wanted was someone to obsess over specific animations and transition patterns inside the Interface. Not general visual design skills or anything else inside a UX toolkit. I'd assume it'd be a case-by-case basis depending on the teams needs.