Leadership in early childhood education and care (ECEC) undoubtedly plays a crucial role in preschool quality, yet it is seldom discussed in studies. This study aims to identify various leadership profiles of preschool leaders using a person-centered approach and predict these profiles based on leaders' characteristics and the preschools they lead. A total of 182 preschool teachers reported on the transformational, transactional, passive, authentic, and abusive leadership behaviors of 77 preschool leaders. Employing a two-level mixture model, the Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) identified three distinct latent leadership profiles, predicted in a multinomial logistic regression by the leader's childcare qualifications and the preschool's size. Authentic-inspiring and ambivalent-passive leaders typically led larger preschools, whereas ambivalent-passive leaders were less qualified. Moderate-motivating leaders, who held more advanced childcare qualifications, led smaller preschools. Given that ambivalent-passive leadership can lead to detrimental employee outcomes, policy and practice should focus on ECEC-specific leadership training.