Since the transition of the youth health care system in the Netherlands municipalities’ commitment to prevention has become more important. Preventive child health care (PCHC) physicians can be useful for municipalities, as prevention is an important part of their work. However, it is unclear if municipalities know PCHC physicians’ activities. This qualitative exploratory study compares the roles of PCHC physicians from the perspective of municipalities and PCHC physicians’ own perspective. A document analysis was conducted of 18 child and youth health care policy documents of 33 municipalities and 6 PCHC documents. We identified seven roles of PCHC physicians. Two roles, scientist and policy adviser, were only found in PCHC documents. Five roles were identified in both policy documents and PCHC documents: health care provider, collaborator/connector, gatekeeper, referrer and child advocate. Policy documents emphasized on PCHC physicians’ expertise on psychosocial level, especially on parenting support. The documents did not pay attention to the medical diagnostic and therapeutic skills of PCHC physicians. This study illustrates that municipalities and the PCHC sector have different visions on PCHC physicians’ roles. The deployment of PCHC physicians will enhance when municipalities deploy PCHC physicians as a scientist and policy adviser.