A member of the Unitary National Liberation Front, he served as the 47th Mayor of Split, during the city's World War II occupation by Fascist Italy, as head of its underground resistance government set up by the Yugoslav Partisans of Josip Broz Tito.

He then worked as conductor and stage designer at the Split Municipal Theatre (1922–29) before joining the music department of the Edison Bell Penkala recording company in Zagreb (1929–33).

During World War II, when Split was annexed and occupied by Fascist Italy, Ivo Tijardović joined the Unitary National Liberation Front (Jedinstveni narodnooslobodilački front, JNOF), the umbrella organization and political coalition behind the Yugoslav Partisans resistance movement.

He soon became active in the city's interim resistance government set-up by the Partisans, the National Liberation Committee (Narodnooslobodilački odbor, NOO), and on 15 May 1942 he became its president (mayor), a post which he held until September 1943.

During the remainder of the war, he served as a member of the Croatian parliament, the ZAVNOH, and as President of the Regional National Liberation Committee for Dalmatia.