diff --git a/codegen-maven-plugin/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/codegen/maven/plugin/GenerationMojo.java b/codegen-maven-plugin/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/codegen/maven/plugin/GenerationMojo.java
index 3d17b4d84bb2..9e59e82abdb1 100644
--- a/codegen-maven-plugin/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/codegen/maven/plugin/GenerationMojo.java
+++ b/codegen-maven-plugin/src/main/java/software/amazon/awssdk/codegen/maven/plugin/GenerationMojo.java
@@ -236,6 +236,13 @@ private <T> Optional<T> loadOptionalModel(Class<T> clzz, Path location) {
 
     private void emitValidationReport(ModelValidationReport report) {
         Path modelsDir = sourcesDirectory.resolve("models");
+        try {
+            Files.createDirectories(modelsDir);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            getLog().warn(String.format("Failed to create directory %s, unable to write validation-report.json", modelsDir), e);
+            return;
+        }
+
         try (Writer writer = Files.newBufferedWriter(modelsDir.resolve("validation-report.json"),
                                                      StandardCharsets.UTF_8);) {