Jair Tavares, a Lisbon-born winger of Cape Verdean descent, was formed entirely at Benfica, joining the academy as a boy and working his way up through the youth ranks at the Caixa Futebol Campus.

He graduated to Benfica B and was a regular for the reserve side across the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons in Liga Portugal 2, operating on either flank. He was also capped by Portugal at youth level. Despite training with the senior squad on occasion, he did not break through to competitive first-team football under Jorge Jesus or Nélson Veríssimo.

With the arrival of Roger Schmidt in the summer of 2022 and no first-team pathway open to him, Benfica sold Tavares to Scottish Premiership club Hibernian on 15 June 2022 for an undisclosed fee, on a contract to 2026. His appearances were limited under Lee Johnson before he became a more regular starter after Nick Montgomery's appointment. He spent 2024/25 on loan at Motherwell and was released by Hibernian in June 2025, subsequently playing for Kauno Žalgiris and AEL Limassol.