Thembi currently works as a candidate researcher in HySA Infrastructure Center of Competence, CSIR. She started her career at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Material Science and Manufacturing where she was involved in electrocatalysts synthesis and characterization for Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) and Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC). Her activities under HySA include storage materials synthesis and characterisation and hydrogen fuelling systems.