CircleCI with Maven Exec Plugin - circleci

Question

I am trying to run maven exec plugin that needs to run npm executable in CircleCI environment. Circle CI fails the build with an error npm command not found. It looks like CircleCI's environment does not have npm installed by default. Tried the config samples in https://circleci.com/developer/orbs/orb/circleci/node#usage-npm_install but does not seem to work.
Here is my plugin configuration:
<plugin>
<groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
<artifactId>exec-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>1.6.0</version>
<executions>
<execution>
<id>npm install (initialize)</id>
<goals>
<goal>exec</goal>
</goals>
<phase>generate-sources</phase>
<configuration>
<skip>${npm.exec.skip}</skip>
<executable>npm</executable>
<arguments>
<argument>install</argument>
</arguments>
</configuration>
</execution>
<execution>
<id>copy to swagger</id>
<goals>
<goal>exec</goal>
</goals>
<phase>generate-sources</phase>
<configuration>
<skip>${npm.exec.skip}</skip>
<executable>sh</executable>
<arguments>
<argument>-c</argument>
<argument>mkdir -p ${project.basedir}/../src/swagger && cp ${project.basedir}/../node_modules/#okta/openapi/dist/spec.yaml ${project.basedir}/../src/swagger/api.yaml</argument>
</arguments>
</configuration>
</execution>
</executions>
</plugin>
Here is my CircleCI config:
version: 2.1
aliases:
- &build_steps
- checkout
- run: java -version
- run: ./mvnw clean install -Pci
jobs:
jdk8:
docker:
- image: cimg/openjdk:8.0.322
environment:
JVM_OPTS: -Xmx3200m
steps: *build_steps
jdk11:
docker:
- image: cimg/openjdk:11.0.13
environment:
JVM_OPTS: -Xmx3200m
steps: *build_steps
workflows:
build_and_test:
jobs:
- jdk8
- jdk11
Any pointers on what I am missing here?