Adhesively bonded single lap joints (SLJ) have numerous advantages over conventional joints, however, adhesively bonded SLJ abruptly increases peel and shear stress/strain concentrations at the ends of the overlap region. Bi-adhesively bonded SLJ realized by the addition of flexible adhesive at both the ends of the bond-layer while retaining a stiff bond-layer at the center of the overlap region, is an effective approach to curtailing steep stress gradient at the free edges, thus minimizing peak peel and shear stress. Research has revealed that compliant bond-layer compromising ≈ 10% of the bond-length has minimal stress concentration and joint stiffness similar to a constant modulus stiff bond-layer for the case concerned. Also, the peak stress occurs at the vertical interface of compliant and stiff bond-layer due to sudden material mismatch limiting strain tolerance, thus initiating failure. 2D and 3D linear elastic FE performed for through the thickness compliance tailored bi-adhesive bond-layer, realized by geometrically grading the adhesive in the transverse and longitudinal direction at the free edges, without changing optimum volume fraction of compliance added to stiff bond-layer, has optimized the joint performance by reducing peak stress concentration, mitigating high stress away from the bi-adhesive interface, imparting tolerance to increased load-level and achieving uniform stress distribution along the bond-length.