Upon graduation, Hardie was appointed to a Junior Research Fellowship in Balliol College, Oxford. He held the post from 1928 to 1929. In 1930, he was elected a Fellow and classical tutor of that college. On 1 February 1933, he was unanimously elected Director of the British School at Rome. He held the post until 1936, when he was succeeded by Ralegh Radford. He returned to England from Italy to become a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, and a tutor in classics.
