Sphumelele joined the SAMRC: Grants Innovation and Product Development (GIPD) Unit in June 2024. Prior to joining GIPD, she has worked for the Clinton Health Access Initiative (SA) providing support to the National Department of Health and later moved on to work for the Research, Innovation, Impact Support and Advancement (RIISA) Directorate at the National Research Foundation (NRF). She brings over 11 years of experience in her previous roles held in her previous employment prior to joining the SAMRC.

She is currently the Project Manager and manages a portfolio of sub-awards and sub-projects under the DSTI/KfW/SAMRC project, which provides equipment and infrastructure (including construction and Information technology) support with the purpose of strengthening vaccine research, development, pre-clinical testing, pilot-scale production and regulation in South Africa.